Ladybird facts

• Ladybirds are actually beetles. And their feminine name has a religious origin.
• There are over 6,000 species of ladybirds and they don’t all don the iconic red and black outfit: some are yellow, orange, pink, white, all red, all black, striped, blotched, and some are even clad in a metallic blue sheen.
• While they might be tiny and cute, ladybugs can fly at high altitudes and at great speeds. Researchers have found them soaring at 1,500m above ground level, speeding at over 50km/h.
• Ladybirds are voracious eaters of aphids and other small insects. Some species used to be produced in labs and sold to farmers to use as natural pesticides for their crops.
• Ladybirds have been to space: in 1999, four ladybirds were shipped out into the sky aboard the Columbia space shuttle as part of an experiment to use them as pesticides.

Ladybirds are insects, and like almost all insects they have wings, antennae, six legs, and a body split into three main segments. But while ladybirds have the term ‘bird’ in their name, they’re definitely not birds, they are insects. And while they are often also dubbed ladybugs, with the term ‘bug’ in their name, they’re also not actually what scientists consider bugs, which are insects from the group Hemiptera.¹

Ladybirds, instead, are beetles: they are part of the group of insects called Coleoptera.² The tell-tale sign that they’re beetles is that they have four wings but the two top ones are hardened in a shell-like covering called elytra

Where do ladybirds come from? “This is a problematic question and remains a matter of scientific debate,” says Karol Szawaryn, a ladybird evolution expert from the Polish Museum and Institute of Zoology. 

Some scientists believe ladybirds first evolved sometime during the Early Cretaceous Period, about 145 million years ago, and then had a boom in diversification and split into hundreds of species in the Late Cretaceous between 120 and 70 million years ago. But we don’t have fossils of ancient ladybirds going back so long ago. “Despite an intensive search for ladybug fossils in this amber source across various collections by my colleagues and me, we could not find a single fossil beetle resembling a ladybug,” says Szawaryn. So scientists estimated this date with high-tech analyses that trace genes back in time.³

At the same time, other estimates place the origin of that beetle family in the Late Jurassic, which starts about 20 million years before the Early Cretaceous. “There is no consensus among the various groups of researchers working with slightly different datasets and using different approaches in their calculations,” says Szawaryn.

The oldest ladybird fossils ever found are from a later epoch called the Eocene, about 50 million years ago, which are specimens of ancient ladybirds trapped in solidified ambers from France and the Baltic region of Europe.⁴

What’s more: answering the question of how they evolved is not easy to explain either, according to Szawaryn. All beetle groups that are closest to ladybird beetles in evolution fed on various moulds and fungi. But even the earliest groups of modern ladybirds were predators. When did they learn to eat other animals? Scientists are still trying to figure that out.

Ladybirds aren’t birds, of course. And they’re sometimes also known as ladybugs, but hey’re not actually what scientists would classify as true ‘bugs’ — they’re part of the family of beetles.⁵ (In modern-day English, the word bug is now used to refer to almost all types of insects.) Elsewhere they’re called lady beetles, which is the moniker that sits the most right. Prior versions of the name even called it ladyfly, or ladycow, despite it being, again, neither.⁶

The ‘lady’ part of the name has a more interesting backstory. It’s thought to have arisen in the Middle Ages when European farmers used to find the seven-spot ladybug on their farms. It is thought the farmers likened the seven black spots on their backs to the seven sorrows of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, also dubbed ‘Our Lady’.⁷ The insects were thought to belong to ‘Our Lady’ and the term ‘ladybird’ and ‘ladybug’ stuck.

The scientific name Coccinellidae simply comes from the Latin word coccineus, which means scarlet red.⁸ That’s also why ladybirds are called ‘coccinelle’ in both French and Italian.

While thinking of a ladybird may conjure up the image of the iconic insect with a red dome and seven even black spots on its back – they come in a wide variety of colours and patterns. There are more than 6,000 species of ladybirds, split up into about 360 genera, although there are some disputes among scientists about which ways the insects should be grouped.⁹

There are also thirteen-spotted ladybugs and two-spotted ladybugs, with the number of spots their names suggest. The fifteen-spotted and twenty-spotted lady beetle has a white back instead of a red one.¹⁰ The fourteen-spotted and twenty-two-spotted have more spots than most, but they’re yellow underneath the black spots. The former’s spots also look a little boxy, rather than round.¹¹ Instead of spots, some coccinellidae have stripes, blobs, and circles that look like eyes, or faint watermelon-like patterns.¹² Some come in yellow, orange, or faint pink.

Some ladybirds are all black, like the yellow-shouldered ladybug with yellow markings close to its head. Other ladybugs are black with red dots – the inverse of what we’re used to seeing – like the twice-stabbed ladybug with two red marks that look like wounds. And the eighteen-spotted one is red with white dots.¹³

The steel blue lady beetle, native to Australia, is a perfect, shiny blue pearl of an insect.¹⁴ 

Different species of ladybirds – and there are over 6,000 species – have different numbers of spots.¹⁵ Some have two, others have 22, and almost everything in between. Some have stripes one way, some have stripes the other. Some have blotches, or blocky patterns on their back instead of dots. Some have no patterns at all. 

The ladybird that’s usually thought of as a symbol of all ladybird, although it’s just one widespread species originally from Europe, is the seven-spotted ladybird with seven spots on its back.¹⁶

Researchers believe the ladybird species that have kept their spots throughout evolution are the ones that have found spots helped them survive better. The striking combination of bright yellow, orange, or red backs and dark spots or stripes helps tell predators to stay away. The bright colours act as a warning sign that ladybirds are unpleasant to eat and possibly even toxic.¹⁷ Some studies suggest the more colourful the contrast, the more toxic the ladybird is.¹⁸

Ladybirds are found all over the world except for Antarctica. They prefer temperate regions, which is why they’re especially common in Europe and North America, although not much is known about ladybirds in Africa and parts of Asia.¹⁹

Since they’re so varied and so widely distributed, they can be found everywhere from forests to grasslands to gardens in cities. They’re most commonly found where plants are plentiful as that means there are abundant plant-dwelling critters for ladybirds to eat.

While a lot of research is done on the geographic distribution of some of the more iconic, well-known species, several species of tiny ladybirds –nones that weigh less than a milligram – make up an important portion of ladybird populations around the world, according to António Onofre Soares, an ecologist from the University of Azores, in Portugal who is part of the ladybird specialist group of the IUCN.

The size of ladybirds can vary widely depending on where they are found in the world, says Soares. For instance, in northern European countries small ladybugs may make up about 5% of ladybug communities, he says. But in southern Europe, the Mediterranean areas and islands, they can represent 30 to 40% of ladybirds, he says. In the Azores, the Portuguese islands where Soares is based, 95% of the ladybug community is made up of really small ladybird species.

There are over 6,000 species of ladybirds, and some of these species are more aggressive in how they thrive and spread around the world than others. This crossover is almost always facilitated by human intervention: either because the ladybirds travel by hitching a ride on human travel — accidentally sneaking inside their luggage or on cargo transportation — or because humans purposefully introduce them into a new habitat. 

For instance, the famous seven-spotted ladybird, now often found all over North America, was brought to California on purpose in the mid-1900s as an agricultural strategy to keep pests like aphids at bay for farmers.²⁰ It was brought over from Europe. This strategy seems to have had a positive impact on the environment.

But mass producing ladybugs in  bio factories,selling them as a pesticide for farmers, and introducing them into new terriroties often also came with a cost. Sometimes, these introductions ended up displacing some local species along the way, says António Onofre Soares, an ecologist from the ladybug specialist group of the IUCN. For example, since the introduction of the Asian ladybug in Chile in 2008, the diversity of ladybug species that roam alfalfa farms dropped from 11 to four species over the course of eight years.²¹ Producers have been urged to stop this commerce in Asian ladybugs, but the insects have since spread on their own. 

That means some locations around the world now are experiencing imbalances in their ladybird populations. Some species of rare ladybirds might be driven to extinction because of this, says Soares, while others will likely keep a foothold in their habitat. 

Ladybirds have two pairs of wings, so four in total. But the two top ones are hardened in a shell-like covering called elytra, which is typical of beetles.²² The top two wings are the shell-likedome that’s often red with black spots (at least in the common ladybird!) and then the flying wings are tucked underneath that layer.  

The curved shape of the creases on its wings helps them stay tucked under the harder shell of the elytra, like origami, and then quickly unfold, like springs, when they’re ready to fly.²³ They can beat their wings a whopping 85 times per second.²⁴

Researchers in Britain wanted to figure out how far ladybirds could travel on their own, without hitching a ride on humans – so they tracked a bunch of ladybirds flying in the sky and going about their day.²⁵ The researchers found that on average ladybirds could fly at 150m above ground at 31km/h, but could reach as high as 1,500m and fly at speeds of 59 km/h helped by high altitude winds.

Not only can they fly really high up in the air, ladybirds have even been to space. In 1999, four ladybirds were aboard the Columbia space shuttle. The fun trip was part of a project to study whether ladybirds could help control pests for agriculture even at zero gravity.²⁶

Since there are more than 6,000 ladybug species, there is a wide variety in diet among the beetle. Some ladybirds are omnivores – so they like to eat a little bit of everything. Depending on the species, they can eat sap, leaves, nectar, and pollen. The species from the Psyllobora group have evolved to eat  fungi.²⁷

But, in general, most species of ladybirds like to eat other small insects, especially aphids and scale insects, as well as fruit flies and mites.²⁸

Among ladybirds that eat insects, there is a lot of variation in size and hunger levels, according to Heidi Liere, a biologist who studies ladybugs at Lewis & Clark College in Oregon, United States. She’s run tests on the western polished ladybird and found that this species eats on average about 10 aphids in 24 hours, while the seven-spotted ladybug and the multi-coloured Asian beetle eat on average about 100 and 50 aphids in 24 hours respectively. This makes sense respective to their size – for example, the western polished isn’t too dissimilar in size from its prey (aphids), whereas the multi-coloured Asian is about three times an aphids’ size.

No matter the variation, though, aphid-eating ladybugs are usually ‘really voracious predators’ across the board, says Liere. They eat aphids whether they’re larvae or whether they’re adults and they can quickly reduce aphid populations. Her team tested this by placing plants infested with aphids inside a little cage and adding four ladybirds. When they counted how many aphids were left after a day, there were only a few, regardless of what combination of ladybird species they put in there.

Some ladybirds have developed special relationships with ants.²⁹ This isn’t very widespread: out of the more than 6,000 species of ladybirds known so far ‘only a few have developed interactions with ants,’ says Jerome Orivel, an ant researcher from the French National Centre for Scientific Research. ‘So it is not a frequent interaction, but there is still a lot to discover.’ These relationships seem to have evolved independently, a number of times across the evolution of ladybirds, because the species that interact with ants belong to different subfamilies, tribes, or genera.

Some ladybirds emit a scent that makes them seem ant-friendly.³⁰ Then, they use this to sneak into the ants’ nests and steal the aphids they’d been tending to – because ants farm aphids for food.³¹

A few species have also evolved to feed on ant babies inside the nest. This is the case of the Diomus thoracicus ladybugs which Orivel studies in French Guiana. The ladybird larvae live inside the ant nest and feed on ant larvae. ‘They are totally accepted by the ants because they have the same chemical signature,’ says Orivel.

Ladybirds aren’t toxic for humans to touch – they don’t sting and inject venom, like spiders and bees, or rub off noxious chemicals, like poisonous frogs – but they are toxic to their predators. Ladybirds are sought-after snacks by birds, small mammals, reptiles, other insects, and arachnids too.  

To defend themselves and warn predators to stay away, atop of having bright colours that should scare off predators, they reflexively bleed out of their knee joints: they ooze a toxic, bitter yellow chemical liquid that’s disgusting for animals to smell. This yellow haemolymph - an insect’s equivalent to blood contains upwards of 50 different chemicals and is also ultimately toxic if the predator decides to eat up the ladybug regardless of the foul stench.³² Different species of ladybugs have different concoctions of chemicals in their toxic ooze.³³

Ladybirds can bite, they have strong mandibles they can use to chew, but they’re not likely to try to bite a human and if they do it’s just a slight pinch.

At night, ladybirds will rest under rocks or leaves and in sheltered areas of their habitats. Of course, their sleep isn’t like human sleep because they don’t have the same type of warm-blooded metabolism as humans. So they just stay still and try to keep warm when it gets chillier at night, and start moving around and hunting for food when it gets warmer during the day. 

During the winter, they do the same sort of thing. Most species of ladybird go into diapause – an insect’s version of hibernation. (34) They seek out warm, cosy spaces to rest in and wait for the cold to be over. For this phase, ladybirds often gather together in really large groups: one cluster can contain millions of bright-coloured beetles. They can stay in this form of hibernation for up to nine whole months, conserving their energy and keeping moist until it’s warm out and there are plenty of plants and critters to eat again.³⁵

Some ladybirds also migrate to find a better spot to overwinter. One famous North American ladybug, the convergent ladybug, for instance, hatches on the coast of California and then migrates to the California mountains between late May and early June.³⁶ They fly together in huge swarms – so large that one swarm even appeared on the National Weather Service radar in North America as an anomaly in the sky.³⁷ Then, when winter comes, they cluster up in huge sleeping huddle – like ladybird pyjama parties – to keep warm.³⁸

This time is also a good time for them to mate. (more below!)

Ladybirds are mainly solitary creatures who spend their lives alone. But they come together in large groups when it gets cold outside and it’s time for them to go into diapause – their version of hibernation.

It’s during this time that most mating happens, according to Piotr Ceryngier, a ladybird researcher at the University of Warsaw in Poland. For example, the eleven-spotted ladybug spends a long period of hibernation from mid-summer to the following spring aggregated on hills or mountains. At the end of the dormancy period, they ‘intensively mate’ before each going their own way, because they’re so rare in Europe that it would be really hard to find a mate when they’re dispersed.

Not all ladybirds follow the same mating patterns, though. Some mating may take place during autumn before the ladybirds go dormant or before they leave their dormancy sites and disperse, in late winter to early spring. And even if the majority of females have mated by the end of dormancy, they will also repeatedly mate later in spring and summer. ‘Ladybirds are often highly promiscuous,’ says Ceryngier. This promiscuity leads to sexually transmitted diseases – parasites and fungi being quite common in ladybugs.

Once the female ladybird is ready, throughout spring and summer it lays its tiny golden eggs in protected spots under the leaves of a plant where there are a lot of aphids. A single ladybug can lay up to 1,000 eggs over the period of 1 to 3 months.³⁹ When the eggs hatch, out come tiny caterpillar-looking larvae with all sorts of colours and patterns: some are black and red, others are white, some are green, and some have small protrusions that look like spikes.⁴⁰ For a couple of weeks, they just eat and eat and eat all the food they can find, including some eggs their mothers have laid especially for them to consume. They eat and eat  until they’re ready to make a cocoon and turn into an adult.

Ladybirds as a whole – the beetle group containing over 6,000 species – aren’t all endangered. But some species are doing much better than others, and researchers think we just don’t have enough data to draw conclusions about how they’ll do now that the climate is changing so rapidly.⁴¹ ‘We are lacking a coordinated worldwide long-term monitoring program in order to assess what is happening currently’, says António Onofre Soares, an ecologist from the ladybird specialist group of the IUCN.

Rapidly warming climates could make some species of ladybirds move into new environments, potentially altering the new environments they enter and starting a domino effect of interactions we don’t yet know anything about. Warmer temperatures could also change the distribution of the insects that ladybirds like to eat.⁴²

Some studies suggest warming temperatures are causing ladybirds to change their colour schemes too.⁴³ For instance, one ladybird species can be both black with red spots and red with black spots. But as the climate gets warmer, studies show more and more ladybirds of the red-with-black-spots variety are cropping up. This is because red keeps them cooler than black in warm weather, as it absorbs less heat.

Featured image © Megan Clark | Unsplash

Fun fact image © Malcolm Lightbody | Unsplash

* The interview with IUCN ladybug conservation specialist António Onofre Soares was conducted over Zoom in November 2024. Learn more about him here: https://www.ce3c.pt/research/research-groups/towards-sustainable-and-re…
* Conversations with experts Jerome Orivel, ant researcher from the French National Centre for Scientific Research, Piotr Ceryngier, ladybug researcher at the University of Warsaw in Poland, and Heidi Liere, biologist who studies ladybugs at Lewis & Clark College, and Polish ladybird evolutionary expert Karol Szawaryn were conducted over email in November and December 2024.

Learn more about them here:
* https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jerome-Orivel
* https://bazawiedzy.uksw.edu.pl/info/author/UKSW-36209/PiotrCeryngier
* https://college.lclark.edu/live/profiles/18421-heidi-liere
* https://sites.google.com/view/karolszawaryn/home

Quick facts:

1. Che, Li-Heng, Peng Zhang, S.Z Deng, Hermes E Escalona, Xingmin Wang, Yun Li, Hong Pang, et al. 2021. “New Insights into the Phylogeny and Evolution of Lady Beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) by Extensive Sampling of Genes and Species.” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 156 (March): 107045–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2020.107045.

2. António Lucas Soares, Danny Haelewaters, Olga, Isabel Borges, Peter Brown, Pedro Cardoso, D de, et al. 2022. “A Roadmap for Ladybird Conservation and Recovery.” Conservation Biology 37 (1). https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13965.

Fact File:

1. “‘Bug,’ ‘insect,’ and ‘Beetle’: Usage Guide.” Merriam-Webster. Accessed March 20, 2025. https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/usage-of-bug-insect-beetle.

2. Seago, Ainsley E., Jose Adriano Giorgi, Jiahui Li, and Adam Ślipiński. 2011. “Phylogeny, Classification and Evolution of Ladybird Beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) Based on Simultaneous Analysis of Molecular and Morphological Data.” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 60 (1): 137–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2011.03.015.

3. Che, Li-Heng, Peng Zhang, S.Z Deng, Hermes E Escalona, Xingmin Wang, Yun Li, Hong Pang, et al. 2021. “New Insights into the Phylogeny and Evolution of Lady Beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) by Extensive Sampling of Genes and Species.” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 156 (March): 107045–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2020.107045.

4. Karol Szawaryn, The first fossil Microweiseini (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) from the Eocene of Europe and its significance for the reconstruction of the evolution of ladybird beetles, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 193, Issue 4, December 2021, Pages 1294–1309, https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa180

5. “True Bugs (Heteroptera).” n.d. Smithsonian Institution. https://www.si.edu/spotlight/buginfo/true-bugs.

6. “Ladybug.” 2025. Etymonline. 2025. https://www.etymonline.com/word/ladybug.

7. “How the Ladybug Got Its Name.” 2025. Merriam-Webster.com. 2025. https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-matters-podcast/episode-23-ladybug.

8. Mahoney, Kevin D. 2025. “Latin Definition For: Coccineus, Coccinea, Coccineum (ID: 10613) - Latin Dictionary and Grammar Resources - Latdict.” Latin-Dictionary.net. 2025. https://latin-dictionary.net/definition/10613/coccineus-coccinea-coccin….

9. António Lucas Soares, Danny Haelewaters, Olga, Isabel Borges, Peter Brown, Pedro Cardoso, D de, et al. 2022. “A Roadmap for Ladybird Conservation and Recovery.” Conservation Biology 37 (1). https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13965.

10. “Twenty-Spotted Lady Beetle | Vermont Atlas of Life.” 2020. Vtecostudies.org. 2020. https://val.vtecostudies.org/projects/lady-beetle-atlas/twenty-spotted-….

11. “Species Propylea Quatuordecimpunctata - Fourteen-Spotted Lady Beetle.” 2024. Bugguide.net. 2024. https://bugguide.net/node/view/4007.

12. Smith, Christopher E. 2018. “Minnesota Ladybugs.” Field Ecology. May 8, 2018. https://www.fieldecology.com/blog/minnesota-ladybugs.

13. “Species Chilocorus Stigma - Twice-Stabbed Lady Beetle.” 2024. Bugguide.net. 2024. https://bugguide.net/node/view/561.

14. “Species Halmus Chalybeus - Steelblue Lady Beetle.” 2024. Bugguide.net. 2024. https://bugguide.net/node/view/449056.

15. António Lucas Soares, Danny Haelewaters, Olga, Isabel Borges, Peter Brown, Pedro Cardoso, D de, et al. 2022. “A Roadmap for Ladybird Conservation and Recovery.” Conservation Biology 37 (1). https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13965.

16. “Seven-Spotted Lady Beetle (Coccinella Septempunctata).” n.d. INaturalist. https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51702-Coccinella-septempunctata.

17. Mitton, Jeff. 2020. “A Ladybug’s Bright Colors Advertise Toxic Chemical Defenses.” Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine. July 21, 2020. https://www.colorado.edu/asmagazine/2020/07/21/ladybugs-bright-colors-a….

18. María Arenas, Lina, Dominic Walter, and Martin Stevens. 2015. “Signal Honesty and Predation Risk among a Closely Related Group of Aposematic Species.” Scientific Reports 5 (1): 11021. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep11021.

19. António Lucas Soares, Danny Haelewaters, Olga, Isabel Borges, Peter Brown, Pedro Cardoso, D de, et al. 2022. “A Roadmap for Ladybird Conservation and Recovery.” Conservation Biology 37 (1). https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13965.

20. “Seven-Spotted Ladybug - Field Station.” 2018. Field Station. August 21, 2018. https://uwm.edu/field-station/bug-of-the-week/seven-spotted-ladybug/.

21. Grez, Audrey A., Tania Zaviezo, Helen E. Roy, Peter M. J. Brown, and Gustavo Bizama. 2016. “Rapid Spread of Harmonia Axyridis in Chile and Its Effects on Local Coccinellid Biodiversity.” Edited by Mark Robertson. Diversity and Distributions 22 (9): 982–94. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12455.

22. Zhou, Jianfei, Bing Feng Ng, Na Han, Lining Chen, Zhaoyang Wang, Xiujuan Li, and Meng Zou. 2023. “Structure and Mechanical Properties of Ladybird Elytra as Biological Sandwich Panels.” Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials/Journal of Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials 143 (May): 105917–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmbbm.2023.105917.

23. Xiang, Jinwu, Jianxun Du, Daochun Li, and Chong Zhen. 2016. “Functional Morphology and Structural Characteristics of Wings of the Ladybird Beetle,Coccinella Septempunctata(L.).” Microscopy Research and Technique 79 (6): 550–56. https://doi.org/10.1002/jemt.22669.and “Unfolding the Folding Mechanism of Ladybug Wings | the University of Tokyo.” 2017. The University of Tokyo. 2017. https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/press/p_20170908.html.

24. “Ladybug | San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants.” 2020. Sandiegozoo.org. 2020. https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/ladybug.

25. Jeffries, Daniel L., Jason Chapman, Helen E. Roy, Stuart Humphries, Richard Harrington, Peter M. J. Brown, and Lori-J. Lawson Handley. 2013. “Characteristics and Drivers of High-Altitude Ladybird Flight: Insights from Vertical-Looking Entomological Radar.” Edited by Eric James Warrant. PLoS ONE 8 (12): e82278. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0082278.

26. “Ladybird” Bluff Lake Nature Center. 2019. https://www.blufflake.org/ladybird-beetle.

27. “Genus Psyllobora - Fungus-Eating Lady Beetles.” 2024. Bugguide.net. 2024. https://bugguide.net/node/view/14200.

28. Hodek, Ivo, and Alois Honěk. 2009. “Scale Insects, Mealybugs, Whiteflies and Psyllids (Hemiptera, Sternorrhyncha) as Prey of Ladybirds.” Biological Control 51 (2): 232–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2009.05.018.

29. Vantaux, Amélie, Olivier Roux, Alexandra Magro, and Jérôme Orivel. 2012. “Evolutionary Perspectives on Myrmecophily in Ladybirds.” Psyche: A Journal of Entomology 2012: 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/591570.

30. Pasteels, Jacques M. 2006. “Chemical Defence, Offence and Alliance in Ants–Aphids–Ladybirds Relationships.” Population Ecology 49 (1): 5–14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-006-0023-3.

31. Majerus, Michael E. N., John J. Sloggett, Jean-François Godeau, and Jean-Louis Hemptinne. 2006. “Interactions between Ants and Aphidophagous and Coccidophagous Ladybirds.” Population Ecology 49 (1): 15–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10144-006-0021-5.

32. Aslam, Muhammad. n.d. “Conspicuousness and Toxicity of Coccinellidae: An Aposematic Review” 2020 (3): 85–91. http://www.iaees.org/publications/journals/arthropods/articles/2020-9(3….

33. KNAPP, Michal, Pavel DOBES, Michal RERICHA, and Pavel HYRSL. 2018. “Puncture vs. Reflex Bleeding: Haemolymph Composition Reveals Significant Differences among Ladybird Species (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), but Not between Sampling Methods.” European Journal of Entomology 115 (January): 1–6. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2018.001.

34. Alois HONĚK, Zdeňka MARTINKOVÁ, and Stano PEKÁR. 2007. “Aggregation Characteristics of Three Species of Coccinellidae (Coleoptera) at Hibernation Sites.” European Journal of Entomology 104 (1): 51–56. https://doi.org/10.14411/eje.2007.008.

35. “Ladybug | San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants.” 2020. Sandiegozoo.org. 2020. https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/ladybug.

36. “Ladybugs - Pinnacles National Park (U.S. National Park Service).” Www.nps.gov. https://www.nps.gov/pinn/learn/nature/ladybugs.htm

37. Cosgrove, Jaclyn. 2019. “High-Flying Ladybug Swarm Shows up on National Weather Service Radar.” Los Angeles Times. June 5, 2019. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ladybugs-on-radar-20190604….

38. “Ladybug Pajama Party.” 2021. PBS LearningMedia. QUEST. 2021. https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/kqed07.sci.life.oate.ladybug/….

39. Shelton, Anthony. n.d. “Lady Beetles.” Biocontrol.entomology.cornell.edu. https://biocontrol.entomology.cornell.edu/predators/ladybeetles.php.

40. “Ask IFAS: Featured Creatures Collection.” 2025. Ask IFAS - Powered by EDIS. 2025. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/collections/series_featured_creatures.

41. António Lucas Soares, Danny Haelewaters, Olga, Isabel Borges, Peter Brown, Pedro Cardoso, D de, et al. 2022. “A Roadmap for Ladybird Conservation and Recovery.” Conservation Biology 37 (1). https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13965.

42. Wu, Yangxue, Junjie Li, Huanhuan Liu, Gexia Qiao, and Xiaolei Huang. 2020. “Investigating the Impact of Climate Warming on Phenology of Aphid Pests in China Using Long-Term Historical Data.” Insects 11 (3): 167. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11030167.

43. “Ladybugs Changed Color in Response to Climate Change.” n.d. Www.science.org. https://www.science.org/content/article/ladybugs-changed-color-response….