Ladybird

Ladybirds (Commonwealth English), also known as ladybugs (American English) or lady beetles (scientists favor this) are a family, Coccinellidae ("little sphere"), of beetles. Ladybirds are found worldwide, with over 4,500 species described, more than 450 native to North America alone. Ladybirds are small insects, ranging from 1 mm to 10 mm, and are usually yellow, orange, or red with small black spots on their carapace[?], and black legs, head and feelers. As the family name suggests, they are usually quite round in shape.

Ladybirds are extremely beneficial to organic gardeners because they are carnivorous, consuming aphids, fruit flies, thrips[?], and other tiny plant-sucking insects that damage crops. In fact, their name is derived from "Beetle of Our Lady", recognizing their role in saving crops from destruction. Today they are commercially available from a variety of suppliers.

Adult ladybirds are able to reflex-bleed[?] from their leg joints. The blood is yellow, with a strong repellent smell, and is quite obvious when one handles a ladybird roughly.

The ladybird is immortalised in the children's nursery rhyme:

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home

Your house is on fire and your children are gone

All except one, and that's Little Anne

For she has crept under the warming pan.

The ladybird is the symbol of the Dutch Foundation against Senseless Violence. [1] (http://www.zinloosgeweld.nl/10.lng/profilesketch.asp)

Notable species:

• Seven-spotted lady beetle[?] (Coccinella septempunctata)
• Two-spotted lady beetle[?] (Adalia bipunctata)
• Convergent lady beetle[?] (Hippodamia convergens)
• Spotted lady beetle[?] (Coleomegilla maculata)
• Twice-stabbed lady beetle[?] (Chilocurus stigma)
• Mexican bean beetle[?] (Epilachna varivestis Mulsant)

P-14 lady beetle consuming an aphid

References

• I. Hodek[?] & A. Honek[?], Ecology of Coccinellidae (Dordrecht: Kluwer[?], 1996)

External links

• http://home.ptd.net/~insect/ladybug
• http://www.geobop.com/Symbols/Animals/Insects/1/Ladybugs/
• http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/predators/ladybintro
• The Lady Beetle (http://www.fbmg.com/creatures/ladybeetle.htm)
• Taxonomy of Coccinelids (http://www.phil.uni-passau.de/didaktik_natw/fuersch/taxonomy)

Ladybird, Ladybird (1995), is a movie directed by Ken Loach, about a woman losing custody of her four children.