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May 2000 |
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Lots a Ladybeetles |
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Ladybeetles Jim Jarman
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The year 2000 may be considered to be the year of the bug. Hey, haven't we had several of them lately? Let's just call it the year of the ladybeetle. There are several pest insects that overwinter as adults. This means as soon as it warms up, they are ready to attack our crops, lawns, trees, flowers and vegetables. When beneficial insects overwinter as adults, they are ready to take on those pesky or pesty relatives first thing in the spring. The leader of this pack has to be the seven-spotted ladybeetle. It is one of the most visible insects in gardens and field crops. The largest of the lady beetles, it also has an equally large appetite. Both the larvae and adults dine on large quantities of aphids. The larvae are not as easily recognized as the adult beetles. Seven-spotted lady beetle larvae look something like black and yellow alligator like insects. Typically, they are found where the adults are common. Once they can be identified, then the smaller larvae of other lady beetles can also be recognized as our insect friends. The seven-spotted ladybeetle is not a native insect. Because of its size and appetite, several attempts were made during the last century in establish this ladybeetle in the U.S. It was during the late 1970s and early 1980s that they became established in the south and moved into Missouri in about 1983. Another foreign lady beetle, the Asian multicolored ladybeetle, followed much the same history of attempted establishment. All attempts seemed to fail until suddenly this lady beetle appeared, began to do well, and started spreading. Bringing in lady beetles from overseas seamed to be a logical way of getting back at all the pest insects have arrived uninvited. Each multicolored Asian lady beetle larva eats from 600 to 1,200 aphids before becoming an adult. Then as an adult it eats 90 to 270 aphids per day and can live for 2 to 3 years. Other smaller or average sized lady beetles will eat about 400 aphids during its development into an adult and eat about 300 aphids before laying its eggs. An average lady beetle will eat more than 5,000 aphids in its life. Multiply this several times for the larger Asian multicolored lady beetle and even more for the seven-spotted lady beetle. The year 2000 is a bad year to be an aphid. Lady beetles will eat other insects besides aphids as well as insect eggs, pupae, scales, mealybugs, and spider mites. So before you swat a bug, make sure it's not a lady beetle. You will be doing yourself, your neighbors, and your plants a favor.
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