Who doesn't remember the little ladybug, the sun, the bug? That's what we called cute bugs in the "red livery" with black dots in childhood. Ladybugs in different cultures have been symbols of many things, but most often - good luck.
Ladybug is a small bug, consisting of 3 parts: head, chest and abdomen. She has wings and fenders, and 6 more short legs attached to her chest. Ladybug larvae are completely different from their adult relatives. Looking at it, you might think that this is a completely different kind of insect. There are many different ladybugs in the world. They have different sizes, colors and textures. Their length is from 1 to 10 mm, depending on the species of the ladybug. Females are larger than males.
Egg laying and larval emergence
Usually the female lays up to 1000 eggs within a few months. The laying place is the underside of the leaf, from 10 to 50 eggs each. Moreover, at the same time, aphid colonies are formed, which are food for adults.individuals and resulting offspring. After a week and a half (it all depends on natural conditions), small dark-colored caterpillars appear from the eggs. The ladybug larva eats the remains of the shell of the egg from which it has just emerged. In order to properly eat and increase survival in the first days of existence, she eats nearby “houses of relatives”. It is believed that each clutch has unfertilized eggs, and it is them that the ladybug larva eats. During its growing season, it “molts”, eats a lot, grows, pupates and turns into an adult. Usually the cycle lasts a month and a half.
What does a ladybug larva look like?
When pupating, the larva does not create a cocoon, but remains unprotected and it seems that it is simply inanimate. But during this period, there is a transformation, the most difficult process of turning into an adult insect - a ladybug. She is of an unusual appearance and far from being as charming as an adult. The larva changes its cover four times. This is because her skin does not grow with her. Therefore, she discards the old one, and under it the ladybug larva has a new one. The baby is growing, gaining weight, spots and bumps appear, as well as transparent legs. But the larva is blind, and yet it continues to feed, examining one plant after another, finding aphid colonies. Time passes, and the ladybug larva, which has gained weight and has grown, begins to prepare for pupation. A photo of this chrysalis attached to a plant with its tail is a great find for loversphoto hunting.
Migratory insects
The young individuals born into the world live until autumn on their lands, destroying aphids, small insects, ticks, and then fly to the mountains for the winter. It would seem, what can they do there among the stones and without food? But ladybugs fly not to eat, but to spend the winter, hiding in cracks, crevices, under stones and, having become numb, stay there until spring. And when the sun begins to warm, ladybugs will return to their lands to repeat their life cycle.
