Her-story: Life of the ladybug

Ladybugs live in fields, gardens and grasslands.  This is a  female ladybug stoping by to say hello.  After awaking from her winter time nap. Ladybugs overwinter as adults in cracks and under logs.

Ladybugs are natures way of controling insects that distroy plants. This its a photo essay of the life of these interesting little beetles. Below is a photo of aphids their main food source  If i see these on a plant I will go and collect a few ladybugs and put them to work killing them off. This photo is a rose bush in a local park, they use could use some ladybug there.

Ladybugs were taken into space in 1999 by NASA. Four were taken along with aphids into a zero-gravity enviorment to study how aphids could get away from ladybugs without being able to jump using gravity.

A breeding  pair of ladybugs, nature taking it course. The next generation of ladybugs will be arriving soon.

After breeding the eggs are laid underneath a leaf in small yellow rows.  These are pretty easy to spot if you are looking for them.

 
With in 3-7 days the baby ladybugs hatch. If you have never seen these you may think they were spiders and kill them. I found them to be quite creepy at this stage.

While walking threw a grassy field you may come across this little fellow. At one week of age they are still extremely small. This little one is on my hand to show how small she truly is.

Between two-three weeks they are about 1/4 of a inch.

At 4 weeks of age its time to start looking for that perfect spot where the larva will become a pupa.

This little larva had found her spot and the changes have started and the pupa is forming.

When the pupa is complete this is what she looks like. The ladybug will stay in this state for 5-7 days before  she emerges as a beetle.

 This is what the pupa looks like after the ladybug emerges. No mater how many I brought in to watch I could never catch that moment when they were actually comming out of the skin. I have had over 20 pupas on my cork board at a time and missed every one of them even if it was a two minute phone call Id come back and  she would be out and drying so it must be a pretty fast process.

This is the drying stage  2 minutes after energing from the skin this is  what you will see.  A bright yellow bug the spots are just starting to show and the wings are hanging out to dry.

At two hours the ladybug is starting to turn orange. 

A few hours later the color of the ladybug is complete and its time for a nap. Its hard work growing up.  Soon the cycle of life will start over again.  

Hope you enjoyed learning about the stages of a ladybugs life.  Next time before you smash that creepy little bug, take the time to find out what it is.  You never know just what it may turn into.

all photos taken with +++panasonic dmc-tz1 lumix+++