Top 10 Most Wanted Bugs in Your Garden – Ladybeetle
  • October 2, 2018
  • Posted by: Mike McQueen, Charles Ray, and Kerry Smith
  • in Lawn & Garden
ladybeetle
Ladybeetle

*This is an excerpt from Top 10 Most Wanted Bugs in Your Garden, ANR-2283.

Aliases: ladybug, ladybird beetle

Wanted For: Gorging on soft-bodied insects such as aphids, scales, thrips, mealybugs, and spider mites.

Family History: Adults and larvae eat large numbers of pests. One ladybug can devour 5,000 aphids in its lifetime. The most common suspect is red with black spots, but watch for many other species in a variety of colors, with or without spots.

Sightings: Known to loiter on nectar-rich flowers such as yarrow, clover, and tansy.

Warning: Be on the lookout for a ladybug look-alike: the spotted cucumber beetle! This green beetle with black spots feeds on crops and foliage.

Mike McQueen, Regional Extension Agent, Home Grounds, Gardens and Home Pests; Charles Ray, Research Fellow, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University; and Kerry Smith, State Master Gardener Program Coordinator, Auburn University

Reviewed November 2021, Top 10 Most Wanted Bugs in Your Garden, ANR-2283

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