Many people admire insects, not at all suspecting that some of them cause great damage to agricultural crops. In total, there are about 760 thousand species of various insects on Earth, among which there are more than 300 thousand beetles.
The order of beetles is subdivided into 3 suborders - ancient beetles, carnivorous and polyphagous. In the first, richly represented in the past, there are only a few dozen species that exist today, but it is the source for the other two. Among such a variety, red beetles with black dots stand out against the background of greenery and, conversely, black beetles with red spots.
The article provides information on the more common and common ones.
General information about beetles
Before we find out what red beetles with black dots are called, let's find out what insects are - beetles.
These are the most diverse and numerous types of insects that live in almost all areas of the landand water - in the tundra, deserts, mountains, forests, in fresh water, and even in human dwellings.
Beetles are very different from each other in appearance and size. Some are so tiny that they cannot be seen, others, like the goliath beetle, can reach 15 cm in length.
Features of the structure of beetles
A red beetle with black dots on its wings (shown in the photo below), like all other varieties of beetles, has its own structural features. The main distinguishing feature of beetles is strong and rigid front wings (or elytra), which, when folded, form a chitinous shell that protects the thinner second pair of wings - membranous.
There are so many creatures in the world who want to dine on bugs that the second had to get such hard chitin armor to protect the body. Like all insects, beetles have a head, thorax (abdomen), and thorax. Their jaws (only three pairs) are extremely powerful and durable. Most beetles have good eyesight, but they mostly rely on sensitive organs of touch - antennae located on the sides of their heads.
The heart is placed inside the abdomen, and it is protected by a strong chest plate (pronotum). The belly also contains the intestinal tract, stomach and the entire respiratory system.
Many beetles have two pairs of wings, of which the lower ones are used for flight, hidden in a sitting position under chitinous elytra. Before taking off, the beetle raises its elytra, and only then spreads its delicate, thin wings.
In total, like other insects,beetle 6 legs attached to the thoracic region of the body.
Ladybug Family
These cute little bugs are familiar even to small children. They are well known for their lack of fear of humans and their bright red coloration.
The most famous ladybug (red beetle with black dots), seven-spotted, although their species diversity is huge.
There are a total of 5200 species in the world in the Ladybug family, in the Coleoptera order. This means that their relatives are numerous varieties of beetles. Some individuals are red with black dots, others have irregular spots instead of dots, others are black with red spots. Very rare, but there are ladybugs of the same color, with a black color.
Description of a ladybug
These are small red beetles with black dots (see photo below) with a rounded convex body. The lower part of their body is completely flat. Their usual coloration is red, black and yellow contrasting tones. The head is small. The legs are short, thin, black. Body length is 5-8 mm.
In sunny weather, these heat-loving insects are active: they crawl in a hurry, take off quickly and sit down on plants again in search of food. Their flight is very easy, fast and silent.
Usually the victims of ladybugs are sedentary insects, and therefore hunting for them is only eating the victim.
Distribution, features
Ladybugs are distributed all over the world. They live on all continents of the world except Antarctica. Ladybugs inhabit open spaces with herbaceous vegetation - gardens, meadows, forest edges, steppes, less often - forests. Clusters form only during wintering, and so they live alone. In search of food, they crawl along the leaves and stems of plants, and they can also fly long distances.
The peculiarity of these beetles is that when threatened, they secrete a rather sharp-smelling, poisonous yellowish liquid that scares off enemies. Only a few varieties of these beetles are harmful to crops. The rest (predatory species) destroy mealybugs, aphids, psyllids and other pests of garden and horticultural crops.
Not always a ladybug is a red beetle with black dots (the photo shows this). Some of the varieties are yellow with black dots, others are black with red dots. There are even white ladybugs! All these are young beetles that have recently emerged from the pupa. They acquire an adult, normal color after a few hours after birth.
Varieties
Among the numerous varieties of ladybugs, as noted above, there are not only red beetles with black dots, but also black and red in color.
- Cow four-spotted - black beetle with 4 large red spots on the elytra and lengthbodies up to 6 mm. This is a ubiquitous common species. They destroy colonies of sedentary insects that suck juices from plants: mealybugs, scale insects and hermes.
- Two-spotted ladybird - a species that is changeable in color. Usually these are beetles with a black pronotum and red elytra, each with a black spot. The body is up to 5 mm long. Destroy (both beetles and larvae) aphids.
- Cow broad-fronted - a black beetle with 2 red spots on the elytra. Body 3 mm long covered with hairs. Both larvae and beetles feed on scale insects and aphids, and in the full cycle of its development, one beetle can destroy more than 600 pests.
Beetle red with black dots
The name of his bug-soldier. This red insect is known to almost everyone, because it lives next to a person.
These beetles, which have a bright black and red coloration, can grow up to 12 millimeters in length. They can't fly because they don't have wings. Although there are exceptions.
The larvae of this beetle look very similar to adult insects.
Distribution and behavior of toy soldiers
Beetles live in Eurasia in temperate climatic zones, and are also found in North Africa and North America. The bug can be seen at almost any time of the year, except for winter. There are especially many of them in the spring, when the sun warms well. They sit in small groups in open areas.
On the trees, red beetles with black dots take a fancy to the old bark. They are also located on loose boards, on bricks, on fences, and even in houses they can be seen in rural settlements. In essence, these insects are completely harmless.
The composition of their diet - fruits that have fallen to the ground, seeds, plant sap. Their main feature is that they sometimes eat their relatives when they live in large colonies.
At the end of autumn, beetles with a red back and black dots hibernate under fallen leaves, under the bark of trees and in other places sheltered from the wind and severe frosts. With the onset of winter, the soldiers enter the stage of an adult insect. Nature endowed them with an unpleasant odor to scare away natural enemies.
Shrenk's Breacher
Schrenk's beetle can also be attributed to red beetles with black dots. He is easily recognizable by his bright characteristic appearance. Its elytra are red or orange, with transverse stripes and black spots. The body is characterized by dense hairiness.
On sunny days, these beetles can be seen sitting singly or in groups on flowers. They are usually slow and lethargic. Their larvae are more mobile than adults. Penetrating into locust egg-pods, they feed on their eggs.
These insects got such a name due to the fact that their blood contains poison (cantharidin), which strongly irritates the skin and causes the appearance of water bubbles (abscesses). It may also happen that an animalswallowed with the grass of this bug will get sick and die.
Conclusion
Among the huge variety of beetles in nature, ladybugs are the closest to people and pleasant in appearance and cute.
Childhood is associated with them, when these beetles themselves sat down without fear on children's palms, and the kids asked them to fly away to the "sky" to feed the children. These beautiful insects are always a favorite subject for children because they are easy to observe.
The British interpret this color of the ladybug as follows: the red color is a reminder of the passions of Christ, and the black dots are associated with the 7 sorrows of the Mother of God.
