Bug #3 -- Ladybug or Ladybird Beetle

Ladybug or Ladybird Beetle

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Coleoptera
Family: Coccinellidae

The Ladybug is actually a ladybird beetle. These common beetles have a very distinctive oval shape and bright coloring. The head is partly or completely concealed by its pronotum or top shell. Both adults and larva of most species are predaceous. Feeding chiefly on aphids, but also seeking out scale insects, mites and other injurous forms in insects. Ladybird beetles are often quite numerous where these pests occur. They may eat up to 1000 aphids a day. Some species have been used commercially to combat scale insects injurious to the citrus orchards of California. Adults frequently overwinter in large groups under leaves or in debris. There are only two species of ladybird beetles that are phytophagous, which means feeding on plants. These can be serious garden pests.

Original enlargement 52 times.

Submitted by -- Cromer Elementary School

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