Ladybugs are a kind of beetle, which is an insect.  They are usually less than 1/4 in long (from 4-7 mm in length), and have oval bodies.  The female ladybug is usually larger than the male.  Most of them have red, orange, or yellow, elytra (wing covers) and black spots. Some are black with red spots and some ladybugs have no spots at all!  The number of spots helps to identify the kind of ladybug. The elytra is a hard wing cover that protects the ladybug's fragile wings. The ladybug's wings are so thin that you can see through them.  The pronotum is found just behind the ladybug's head and it often has spots on it.  It helps to hide and protect the head. Like all insects, the ladybug has six jointed legs. There are special organs on their feet to help them smell.  The ladybug uses its antennae to touch, smell and taste. 

The life cycle of the ladybug is between four to six weeks.  In the spring the adults lay up to three hundred eggs in an aphid colony.  The eggs hatch in two to five days.  The newly hatched larvae feed on aphids for up to three weeks, and then they enter the pupa stage.  The adult ladybug emerges about a week later.  However, they usually do not have their spots for their first 24 hours of adulthood. So, if you catch one in your schoolyard without spots, you may have found a brand new adult. There may be as many as six generations of ladybugs hatched in a year. 

In Europe, during the Middle Ages, insects were destroying the crops, so the Catholic farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help.  Soon the Ladybugs came, ate the plant-destroying pests and saved the crops! The farmers  began calling the ladybugs "The Beetles of Our Lady", and they eventually became known as "Lady Beetles"!  The red wings represented the Virgin's cloak and the black spots represented her joys and sorrows. 

Ladybug Roses and the Pharaoh of Egypt - this is a wonderful story.

Five Little Ladybugs

Five little ladybugs climbing up a door,

One flew away and then there were four. 

Four little ladybugs sitting on a tree,

One flew away and then there were three. 

Three little ladybugs landed on a shoe,

One flew away and then there were two.  

Two little ladybugs looking for some fun,

One flew away and then there was one.  

One little ladybug sitting in the sun,

She flew away and then there were none.

If I Were A Ladybug

"If I were a Ladybug
I'd be orange and black
I'd be oval in shape
And have spots on my back

I'd look at the flowers
And crawl up the plants
And I'd have for my neighbors
Some beetles and ants!"

Never Hurt a Ladybug!
 
Ladybugs are in my yard
Just look at them devour
  Those pesky aphids on the leaves
Of all my pretty flowers!

Never hurt a ladybug
 We need them in the garden
  Ladybugs help flowers grow
   So we must give them pardon!

~Author Unknown~

LADYBUGS ON THE SPACE SHUTTLE

Four ladybugs were sent into space in 1999 on NASA's space shuttle led by Eileen Collins. Ladybugs and their main food, aphids, were sent to a zero-gravity environment to study how to aphids could get away from the ladybugs without being able to jump using gravity.

According to the STS-93 Pilot Jeffrey S. Ashby, "One of the experiments that I do understand well, and is also very interesting, is an experiment that involves aphids and ladybugs. We are taking a small container with some leaves and aphids, and the ladybugs that are their prime predator. I'm told that the ladybugs on Earth will climb up a stalk to capture the aphids, and the aphids will use gravity to assist them to fall off of the leaf to escape from the ladybug. The question is, how will these defense mechanisms work in the absence of gravity, and what will happen to the relationship between predator and prey? One of the things that extra time has allowed us to do is to come up with names for the four ladybugs that we have. I think they have been very appropriately named after The Beatles: John, Paul, Ringo, and George. We're taking these ladybugs up and we're going to release them and see what they do."

Results of the Experiment: Upon completion of the mission, it was determined that the ladybugs survived and did eat the aphids while in a microgravity environment. Ladybugs do very well in space.

Two-spotted Lady Beetle               Fifteen-spotted Lady Beetle

Eye-spotted Lady Beetle                Three-Banded Lady Beetle

Thirteen-spotted Lady Beetle         Transverse Lady Beetle

I hope you enjoyed learning more about Ladybugs

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