the.com/ladybug
a polka-dotted assassin that farmers worship and aphids fear in equal measure
means a small, often red-and-black-spotted beetle of the family Coccinellidae, beloved by gardeners for devouring aphids and other plant pests.
from The 'lady' is no ordinary lady — by long tradition she's Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, to whom medieval Europeans dedicated the beetle. The most common European species, the seven-spotted ladybird, was linked to Mary's seven joys and seven sorrows, and her red cloak is said to echo the beetle's red wings — hence names like the German Marienkäfer ('Mary's beetle') and the older English 'Our Lady's bird.' 'Ladybug' is the American flavor; the British keep the older 'ladybird,' though the creature is, of course, no bird at all but a beetle.
- daily kill count
- Eats up to 50 aphids per day
- toxic bleed
- Oozes foul blood from its knees when threatened
- lifetime feast
- Devours roughly 5,000 insects in its life
- warning colors
- Red signals predators it tastes disgusting
- name origin
- Named for the Virgin Mary by medieval farmers
coccinella septempunctata — european seven-spot ladybug, most common species across europe and asia with seven distinctive black spots
harmonia axyridis — asian lady beetle introduced to north america in 1916 for pest control, now invasive with 15-19 spots
adalia bipunctata — two-spot ladybug native to europe, highly variable coloration used in evolutionary genetics research