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| Photo Credit: ©2006 Buglady Consulting |
| The two-spotted ladybird beetle can live up to two years. | Ladybugs are lovely for so many reasons. Not only are these little critters cute, they go hog wild on garden pests. But there are so many kinds, it’s hard to tell which ones inhabit your landscape. Here are some ladybird basics to help you identify these helpful garden visitors.
Two-spotted ladybird beetle, Adalia bipunctata. Native to North America and Europe, these adult beetles have red wings with two black or brown spots, and their dome-shaped bodies are 4-5 millimeters (mm) long. They overwinter as adults and come out in early to midspring, and they can live for one or two years. Adults and larvae both feed on many soft-bodied pests in the garden, like aphids. The beetle is commercially available from insectaries.
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| Photo Credit: ©2006 Buglady Consulting |
| Twice-stabbed ladybird beetles can often be found hunting in trees for their next meal. | Twice-stabbed ladybird beetle, Chilocorus stigma. These cute little ladybugs are black with two red spots on their backs – just the opposite of the two-spotted ladybird beetle. They’re small – just 3 ¾-5 mm – but they’re very aggressive feeders. Their diet is primarily scales, which can be nasty insect pests to control. You can often find these ladybugs hunting for their next meal in trees.
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| Photo Credit: ©2006 Buglady Consulting |
| The European-native seven-spotted ladybird beetle is now well-established in the US. | Seven-spotted ladybird beetle, Coccinella septempunctata. Unlike many other ladybird beetles, this 7-mm-long insect has an odd number of spots on its back, with one spot normally split right in half between its two wings. This European native has been repeatedly released in North America as a biological control agent to feed on pest aphids, and it’s now established in North America.
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