Ladybugs are actually highly promiscuous, STD-ridden, cannibals
Those cute little ladybugs, the favorites of children everywhere, are really highly promiscuous, STD-ridden, cannibals.
Surprised?
For starters, many of the 5,000 species of ladybugs on the earth, of which about 150 live in the US, look very little like the classic ladybug of our youth. The spots, which are a very prominent feature on what we think of as a ladybug, has very little to do with the family of insects known as ladybugs.
So what makes a ladybug a ladybug? It all depends on their antennae and toes. Ladybugs have 11 segments in their antennae, and have 4 toes, although one is hidden in a small groove beneath another.
Ladybugs are actually beetles, and are part of the Arthropoda phylum. A ladybug's spots appear on their protective wings, called "elytra". The spots have nothing to do with the age of the insect, as is commonly believed. In most temperate climates, ladybugs live about a year-- long enough to grow from larva, have a few sexual encounters, and lay eggs.
Entomologists have studied ladybugs for quite a few years and have analyzed the eggs of ladybugs. From their analysis, DNA studies indicate that most female ladybugs have had "encounters" with several partners-- in some cases, tens of partners.
The different species of ladybugs have different diets, as well. While ladybugs are revered by gardeners for their knack of chomping down on aphids, they also eat molds, mildews, fungus, scale insects, and plants. Not a bad thing to have in one's garden!
To be sure that the children of the ladybug will have a bountiful diet of aphids, the female ladybug must assess the aphid colony targeted, and lay her eggs in a new colony. Ladybugs can analyze over 40 different signature chemicals from aphids, and the plants themselves, to determine where it's best to lay her eggs.
This is a sensible precaution, because ladybug larvae are very strong cannibals, eating one another if the aphid supply runs out. Some ladybug larvae manage to gobble up their yet-to-be-hatched siblings, in order to grow and thrive-- and reduce the competition from other larvae for their aphid prey.
Ladybugs are also host to a wide variety of parasites, which are transmitted during sexual encounters. One parasite, the arachnid Coccopolipus hippodamiae mite, lives under the elytra, and feeds on the blood of the female. The eggs from these females are generally much weaker than the eggs from non-infected ladybugs.
So, now you know. The next time your child cups his hands to catch a beautiful ladybug, you can choose to tell the truth about Ladybugs, or, you can just forget all about it...
Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home--
Your house is on fire and your children alone...
Thanks for coming by!
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And it's all Obama's fault...
Obviously!
Hope you enjoy this little "factoid"!
Ecologically, this is a way to prevent overpopulation in an ecosystem; either cannibalism or starvation when food supplies become scarce
No, that was the Johnson Administration Lyndon and Ladybug.
It does make sense-- and I guess, the insect world is more of a "dog eat dog" world...
They can always come to my house, if they choose. We seem to have tons of aphids!
Well, they can be! I mean, it's all just a part of life...
Whatever it is, we know it was all caused by a liberal, anyway.
I used to buy a couple K ladybugs each year and throw them in my garden. No garden the last couple years though. I also would hatch praying manti as well, and although it is claimed that a mantis wont eat a ladybug, I have seen this to be false. I guess they are immune to whatever STD's are being passed around the lady community.
I love the manti at our house-- they cling to the screen of the window, and watch all of us, as if we are aliens! They are cute bugs-- and welcome! Accordingly, in KY, they are listed as neither beneficial nor harmful-- just bugs. They have a tendency here to eat the good bugs, as well as the bad ones.
Our neighbor used to buy ladybugs all the time, and, once they ate all the aphids at his house, they would move down to ours. I appreciated it!
Thanks, so much, for coming by, Peter!
I was always taught that it was very bad luck to step on a lady bug. Now I see why, in bare feet anyway.
Lady bugs are just so dang cute. If I happen to see one, I bring it to my garden to do it's thing!!!
(eating other bugs)
Very interesting article Dowser.......thanks you for posting it!!
I've always heard that, too!
I don't think we can get those mites, though... We don't have the "wings"!
I love them, too, Nona! I think they are darling!
That pretty much describes the extent of my sex life since the demise of Huey Lewis & the News .
We watched Back to the Future this weekend-- Huey Lewis was hot!
That was supposed to be a tragic confession on my part ... but you ignored the tragic part .
Does this mean that we'll have to start calling them, ''Ladies of the Night''.
I didn't know what to say... I could think of absolutely nothing, other than i'm sorry to hear it...
Yup , no respect :
OK I admit it, I love them too. We don't see that many out here, but when I do I try to catch it and put it in a green area.
You should be asking yourself what caused the demise of said group ...
Dowser
Great article
I do not have this many varieties, but there are always lady bugs in and around the garden once the vegetables go in and the marigolds bloom around the edges - also near the rose bushes it seems
Funny!
I think they are cute, too! I love the spots and different colors. We have one species here that is pink and yellow-- cute!
Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
I was shocked-- SHOCKED, I tell you-- at the moral turpitude of ladybugs...
Marigolds seem to attract them, for some reason... That is an unscientific observation, but it always seems to me that where there are marigolds, there are ladybugs...
My guess would be the scent of the Marigold ????
The article said that they could certainly smell 40 different scents that told them where the aphids were, so you're probably right! That makes sense!
Thanks to allergies, I can't smell much these days... I sort of discount the value of odor of things!