the.com/ladybird
a tiny armored beetle that murders aphids by the thousands while looking unbearably cute
means A small, round, often red-and-black-spotted beetle that gardeners adore for devouring aphids and other plant pests.
from In British English it's 'ladybird'; in America, 'ladybug.' The 'lady' is the Virgin Mary — in medieval Europe the beetle was 'Our Lady's bird,' and the common red-with-seven-spots variety was linked to Mary, sometimes said to evoke her red cloak and her seven joys (or seven sorrows). Farmers credited the little beetle with protecting crops, and gave thanks for the help by naming it after her.
- appetite
- one ladybird eats 5,000 aphids in a lifetime
- toxic blood
- bleeds foul yellow fluid from knees to repel predators
- swarm sleep
- thousands huddle together to hibernate through winter
- naming
- named for the Virgin Mary, the original 'lady'
- spot myth
- spots don't reveal age, only the species
coccinellidae — family of beetles with over 5,000 species, including the seven-spot ladybird (coccinella septempunctata) native to europe
asian lady beetle — harmonia axyridis, introduced to north america and europe in the 1980s for pest control, now invasive
two-spot ladybird — adalia bipunctata, common british species declining due to competition from asian lady beetles since 2004