More than species of ladybugs are now living in California because of the benefits they provide. Most of the time this is a good thing, but now and then introduced species displace our California natives. We must remember: all things in moderation! The female ladybug lays her tiny, golden eggs on the underside of leaves, usually near an aphid colony. In most species, the eggs hatch into larvae that look like caterpillars in just a few days. Once hatched, the larvae eat about to aphids in the 2 weeks it takes them to become fully grown.
As they grow, the larvae shed their skin several times. Once they are a certain size, the larvae stop eating and attach themselves to a plant leaf or stem. They then enter their next developmental stage, called the pupa. When it is time, the adult ladybug emerges from the pupa.
Though it now has all the features of an adult beetle, its exoskeleton is still soft and light in color. It takes the emergent insect several hours for its exoskeleton to harden and darken.
A ladybug's entire life cycle only takes three to seven weeks. Not all ladybugs have spots. The Paramysia oblonguttata , for example, is striped, and some species have no spots at all. A single ladybug larva was observed to have eaten 25 aphids per day for a total of aphids during the course of its larval phase. Be prepared for ladybugs to fly away in a few days as they typically don't lay eggs on the plants they have been released on.
When you see ladybugs, remember that they are considered lucky in many cultures, for various reasons. Enjoy them in your garden until they fly away, fly away home. The Real Dirt Blog. Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home. Tags: Butte 89 , Butte County 91 , gardening 89 , ladybeetles 2 , ladybug eggs 1 , ladybugs 2 , Master Gardener Share Print. Recent Posts Blog Home. Archives All Archives. Tags All Tags. Recent Posts. Provide aphids! Make it easy to find a meal by placing them on the ground directly under infested plants.
Offer nectar and pollen. Adult ladybugs are actually omnivores, which means they eat both animal and plant materials, including flowering plants such as dill, wild carrot and yarrow, and legumes like peas, beans, and clover. Offer an assortment of these foods. Use pesticides with care.
Always give beneficial critters a chance to work. If you must spray, try a repellent like Garlic Spray. Before the ladybug takes flight, those elytra open up, gull-wing -style, revealing the diaphanous wings underneath. Those wings unfurl dramatically, then flap in order to support flight. Here's a diagram from Wikimedia Commons showing the diagram in which you can barely see the wing, but it's there :.
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