flying

Thursday, November 15, 2007
foxglove in November III | Permalink

foxglove in November III
ladybug

In the last few years here in Michigan, our homes have been infested with ladybugs in the fall as they look for a place to hibernate. My University posted this a few years ago explaining:

'There are several species of ladybird beetles, or more commonly called ladybugs, that look to houses, apartments and other buildings as a place to hibernate during the winter months. They have been bothersome, at times, but until last year the large numbers of them entering buildings was not all that common or widespread.

By and large the vast majority of the ladybugs invading buildings in Michigan the last couple of years is called the multi-colored Asian ladybird beetle or more conveniently the Asian ladybug. It was introduced from Japan to help manage aphids, scale, greenbugs and other soft-bodied leaf feeding insects in the southern United States several years ago. This ladybug comes in many shades of orange (thus its name) and has a variable number of spots or no spots at all on it's wing covers. It can be identified most easily by a black mark resembling an 'M' on the upper (dorsal) of its thorax (body region between abdomen and head).

The behavior of the Asian ladybug is a little different than our native species. Most notably, they like to hibernate in cavities, together in great numbers (the more the merrier) and they bite when handled.'

SP500UZ
ISO: 80 shutter: 1/160 fstop: 3.2 focal length: 9.4mm Posted by Flying | Comment (27)
Category: Nature, Animals, Flowers, Macro, Color