Well, our ladybugs have been here two and a half weeks now. I still see normal ladybugs regularly, but now we see something new. Little Bear and I have gotten to see ladybugs in their pupas and in their larval form. Adult ladybugs are awesome. We all know them by their beautiful hard red or orange shells spots. Most people recognize ladybugs immediately. The pupal and larval stages make them look weird and I mean really, really odd and nothing like their adult form.
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| Small Larva |
The first day I saw these I only noticed three pupas and one larva. The next day I went out to check and see what we had and there are over twenty pupas and at least three larvae. Two of the larvae are very fat and large. One of the larva is very small and the body is shaped more like a caterpillar with six legs in the front. The amount I noticed today was astounding. My larvae have a ton of bugs to feed on in this area of the yard. I have some dandelions here and I have no idea why or what kind of bugs they are, but they keep my ladybugs well fed.
Since I saw these weird orange pupa stage ladybugs I started doing some research about the life cycle of a ladybug. Little Bear is a bug lover. He has enjoyed helping me research this and comparing it to other life cycles he has learned about. What we found is that the life cycle of a lady bug starts with some tiny yellow or white eggs that are laid on leaves. We did not find any eggs, but I also didn't look terribly hard. It takes about three to five days for the eggs to hatch.
Once the eggs hatch you have the larval stage. The larval stage is where things get really strange. These little guys look nothing like the adult lady bug, in color or in shape. They are a long narrow black bug and they get pretty big. They have what looks like spines on their backs and they just look weird. They remind me of bugs people would typically squish on sight. They remain in the larval stage for two to three weeks. During this stage they eat aphids and other small bugs.
The next stage is the pupa stage. Here the larvae attach themselves to a leaf by their tail and form the pupa. This stage is much like that of a butterfly. It lasts about a week.
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| Pupa |
The last stage is the adult lady bug. When the lady bug emerges from the pupa is a beautiful adult lady bug, with the shiny red and black shell we all expect. When the adult lady bug emerges the shell is thinner than an older adult. This makes the susceptible to attack the first few days after emerging from the pupa.
According to my research the adult lady bugs will hibernate during the fall and winter months and emerge during spring.
If you have bug lovers, releasing ladybugs and watching them as they go through the life cycle is a really cool thing. Little Bear loves them. He has enjoyed watching them and checking on them.
You can get your own ladybugs here.
Sources:
About Education. "The Life Cycle of Ladybugs". December 14, 2014.
School World. "Ladybug Life Cycle".
Simple Science. "Ladybug Life Cycle".
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| A large larva. As you can see it has plenty to eat. |
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| Left: Larva and Pupa Right: The Next Day there were 2 Pupas |
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