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LADYBUGS (OR LADYBIRDS)

COCCINELLIDAE

L

adybugs (known as ladybirds in the UK) are

among the best-known and best-loved of

insects, even if people don’t always know that they

are, in fact, beetles! These instantly recognizable,

hemispherical, and brightly colored little insects

move around openly, seemingly unafraid and

inoffensive, even in parks and gardens, and often fly

onto people. They have become the subject of a lot

of folklore, and inspired children’s poems, rhymes,

and sayings. In many cultures ladybugs are thought

to bring good luck, and their name in several

languages connects them with divinity. “Ladybird”

comes from “Our Lady,” the Virgin Mary, and this

connection is even more explicit in, for example,

the German marienkafer (Mary’s beetle). Early

depictions of the Virgin Mary showed her in a red

cloak, and the seven spots of the common red

species (Coccinella septempunctata) apparently

represented her seven joys and seven sorrows.

Other translated names include God’s cow, Moses’s

family

Coccinellidae

known species

6,000

distribution

Worldwide

habitat

Gardens and parks, forests, plains,

agricultural land

size

0.8–18 mm

diet

Many species eat aphids and other small

insects. Others feed on mildews and similar

fungi growing on plants, and a few feed on

the leaves of the plants themselves

notes

The variable-colored Harlequin Ladybug

Harmonia axyridis from East Asia is an

effective predator of aphids and other small

plant pests, and has been introduced to

Europe and North America for biological

control. In both continents, it has become

COCCINELLIDAE—Ladybugs (or Ladybirds)