A brood of little ladybugs
is wintering with me.
...Rainier Maria Rilke
In the last week, I have rescued and released about 40 ladybugs rom my home. I find them on the window sills on the west side of our home. When the window warms up, they become active. This is one of the ladybugs I rescued and put outside where it is supposed to be.
I found out that they are Asian ladybugs. Asian ladybugs are the black sheep of the ladybug family. Both the good and bad ladybugs help maintain order in the garden but the bad ladybugs crash in your house over the winter and invite all their friends to join them.
The Asian ladybug has a prominent feature between its wings and its head. This is often said to look like the letter "M". On either side of the black mark, there will be a large white circle.
The most telling characteristic of the Asian ladybug is its proclivity to cluster indoors during the fall and winter. If you find a bunch of ladybugs in your house napping, those are the bad kind. I always wondered why I would find ladybugs in the south or mostly west windows where it is the warmest. Maybe this isn't as cute as I thought it was...
Thank you for your kind comments and favs. When this species first arrived in the UK, it was labelled in jest as the many named ladybird due to the quantity of vernacular names. It has been called the multivariate, southern, Japanese, pumpkin, Halloween beetle, harlequin, Asian, and multicolored Asian lady beetle. Phew! The wiki website I added shows 16 photos and colors of this ladybug.
March 21st, 2024
Leave a Comment
Sign up for a free account or Sign in to post a comment.
Thank you for your kind comments and favs. When this species first arrived in the UK, it was labelled in jest as the many named ladybird due to the quantity of vernacular names. It has been called the multivariate, southern, Japanese, pumpkin, Halloween beetle, harlequin, Asian, and multicolored Asian lady beetle. Phew! The wiki website I added shows 16 photos and colors of this ladybug.