ladybugs

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Today’s post features photos from our ladybug garden experience last year. Have a great weekend!

What is a Follow Friday post? It’s a blog series I created a few years ago based on a Twitter meme. Learn more about it in my FAQ. See my nomination for a Shorty Award for Follow Friday here. You can read more Follow Friday goodness here. Would you like to be a guest photographer for Follow Friday? Email me!

badbanana Girl, are you powerful antipsychotic drugs because even my doctor thinks I should get on you.

theleanover People who say you can’t eat money have never sautéed it for a frittata. Mmm. George Washingtonlicious.

fart dear jon, we know you hate getting emails from us so we decided to email you and ask you if you want more emails again. please say yes

MBSecretTweet It’s legal to kill people if they are using leaf blowers. I assume.

morninggloria A true Easter Egg would hatch 3 days after it’s hard boiled.

BuckyIsotope WORST RAPPERS – Lil Bruce Wayne -LL Cool Trump -Flavor E.Coli -Vanilla Lice -Dr. Phil -Wu Tang Clan (World of Warcraft guild)

JoelGHodgson Shrimp with Lobster sauce? That’s a tough way to go: stir fried together with someone you hate and served to a giant.

rstevens 30+ years of using computers and I still keep discovering exciting new ways to break them!

BuckyIsotope There’s only going to be two hits in this fight. Me playing Europe’s The Final Countdown repeatedly and dancing around until you hit me.

morninggloria I’m such an idiot! Why didn’t I consider “BE RICH” as a solution to my problems before this? Gonna try that ASAP.

badbanana Idea: Taco Train. Just like a Taco Truck but it never stops. You have to hop on and off but, man, the tacos are worth it.

weinerdog4life fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, display toilet at home depot

kibblesmith I don’t know if you can be genetically predisposed to Twitter but my dad used to call radio stations to read political song lyrics he wrote.

MassageByTed Having a dog is a lot of work. Like I have to pee everywhere she does, because fuck if I’m letting her mark the yard as *her* territory.

lasertron that thing where you make a grilled cheese except instead of cheese it’s just peanut butter cups

MassageByTed Just stick commas in any old fucking place they have no specific function

izrigrod I wish someone would ask me out on a nap.

rstevens it apparently takes a village to install all these software updates

ryankresse “She gave love a bad name, so I wrote a song about it. I mean, Darryl is a terrible name for love.” – Jon Bon Jovi

twelveyearsold Sombredora (noun) 1. A sombrero-fedora hybrid worn chiefly by Hispanic atheists. 2. A sad child explorer.

JoeMande When is the Crip Moon tho

maggieserota Venn diagram of dudes who post on Men’s Rights subreddits and dudes who have accidentally sustained a self-inflicted nunchuck injury.

mitdasein I should be able to deal with this headache as long as I stay perfectly still and get my heart rate below 20 BPM.

meganamram “hey psst” *opens trench coat* “wanna buy a trench coat??” *takes off trench coat*

CNNyourmom Your Mom A Growing Threat Across USA, Police Say

DrWrought whisper-yelling FUCK YOU, SUN at school pick-up will not win you any mom friends, fyi

sarcasmically How to go jeans shopping: 1.) go to store 2.) see selection of 80?s jeans that have come back 3.) weep 4.) buy more yoga pants

eenereener Had a Jude Law sex dream! Just kidding. He asked me to edit a short story he wrote.

Cheeseboy22 Sometimes, when I am matching socks, I think, “What if these two socks don’t even like each other?”

BuckyIsotope You ain’t nothin but a hound doge / So cryin all the time /Much not caught a rabbit /Very no friend of mine

MightyHunter How Likely Are You To Take All of the BuzzFeed Quizzes? Take This BuzzFeed Quiz to Find Out!

RexHuppke I got the Tea Party edition of TurboTax and it just keeps playing a Toby Keith song and encouraging me to secede.

usedwigs Coffee Shops with Free WiFi – Welcome Back Squatter – See Ya Loiter – American Idle Cafe – Tablesloths – Slow Sips Abyss – Café Au Layabout

nickhudkins Addressing IRS Payment envelopes extra slow helps me feel like I’m really sticking it to the man.

HelloCullen I’ll bet the best part of not adhering to gender norms is that when you start a new relationship you get to excitedly yell “I made partner!”

joshjs Potential Rapper Name: OG/GYN. First album: “What To Expect When You’re Disrespecting”

paulapoundstone The bugs in my pantry were so big, they had been secretly adding stuff to my grocery list.

BeTheBoy “Delete my search history.” – famous last words.

allisonthemeep I bet stink bugs pack a poot-case before they go on business trips.

usedwigs I’m guessing the thing my coworkers hate the most about my lunch preparation in the office kitchen is my fish deep fryer.

nayele18 If I tell you I’m thinking about you, don’t get too excited, because I’m also thinking about nachos.

weinerdog4life When I was growing up we didn’t have edible underwear, we just ate normal underwear.

rachelokokok Available to do a Ted Talk on the best shark attack videos out on YouTube.

owlparliament My boyfriend just said “That documentary sounds uplifting!” in his sleep.

thenatewolf Based on what they are willing to eat I think we can safely assume that dogs get high.

BuckyIsotope Obamacare forced me to pick Guy Fieri as my primary care physician but all he does is pour hotsauce on my open wounds and shout THAT’S MONEY

TheBosha The most common headline on Craigslist w4m appears to be “Where are the normal guys?!” and the answer is, ahem, not on Craigslist.

bumlaser In a slightly surreal twist to parental “Frozen” soundtrack fatigue, my kids are now singing an endless loop of the “Let It Goat” version.

usedwigs When it’s sunny out now my face sunscreen level is SPF Kabuki.

kristenschaaled Do I just buy bananas to watch them die?

mrpilkington Maybe the plan is to just scream enough during the day so that when you are finally able to put your head down you immediately go to sleep.

LindaInDisguise Dear Autocorrect, I did, in fact, mean ‘on porpoise’. Sorry you’ve had such a boring life; some of us have had adventures.

Drangula She removes her Google Glass. He gasps and says, “Why, you’re beautiful!”

thenomodellady The Japanese family in the car next to mine really enjoyed watching me eat that Whopper. JKJKJK They looked horrified.

badbanana A Pop-Tart in the streets but a Toaster Strudel in the sheets.

rachelaxler for an even happier saturday, spend a few hours singing “laura prepon” to “get ur freak on.”

nayele18 If you give me directions using terms like east and west, don’t expect me to show up on time. Or ever.

trumpetcake “Well, well, well, look who doesn’t seem to care about pants.” – what I say to most babies upon meeting them

marlespo Best afternoon moment: Wrestling the boys in a public green, near the bandstand. My 7yo boy shouts, near a crowd, MUM YOU HURT MY VAGINA!!

joshjs Potential Pun Contest Name: Game of Groans

MarcusOreally Number one rule to success is learning when to shut the fuck up.

bazecraze Morpheus: “You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and–” Me: “Blue pill.”

fierceflawless On a scale of one to hellfire, how bad would it be if I took my kid to an Easter egg hunt with a jack o lantern bucket instead of a basket?

LisaMcIntire The internet is pretty gross tonight, and I haven’t been helping.

badbanana Nobody needs seven layers of dip. Simplify your lifestyle.

sbellelauren a man just cat called me and i screamed at him I CAN COOK A BABY IN MY BODY i’m doing great

DinkMagic Star Trek: life in a bad ass car Star Trek next generation: life with a bad ass dad Deep space 9: you live at the airport now

introvertedwife Why aren’t my eyes smoke proof yet? Come on evolution, you lazy bastard.

ShittingtonUK As many as 30% of all Chihuahuas aren’t deliberately thrown into the sea.

VioletThunk “I can’t even.” – odd numbers

TwoAdults Former high school classmate listed one of his favorite shows as Hee-Haw. Sir, I would like to get to know you again.

BuckyIsotope I put my dick in a box but unfortunately it was Schrödinger’s Box and now I’m scared to open it.

XplodingUnicorn I met a mom who didn’t give her kids any sugar. I just fed mine gummy worms for breakfast. We’ll see who ends up in a nicer nursing home.

LizHackett *draws blinds* *dims lights* *locks door* *turns on laptop* *Googles “dogs sitting upright in cars like people”*

VaguelyFunnyDan I’m my favorite bands sell onesies at their merch tables years old.

vladchoc My mouth is saying no, but my eyes are just kind of sitting up there in cubbies. Pivoting around, being slimy.

trumpetcake Disguise a mini-recorder as a walkie-talkie and play this at high volume: “DO YOU COPY? IT’S A BEAR WITH HUMAN HANDS! A BEAR WITH–[static]”

badbanana Wearing a Baby Björk so I can carry all my stuffed ravens and twig fairies while I take a walk.

apelad I’m working on an Old Testament comic book about the sister of Moses getting bit by a radioactive spider. It’s called Miriam Webster.

Mortimusgerbil Sometimes feelings just happen and you’re all like “who let these gdamn feelings in here? Quick, somebody hit them with a stick.”

farwent Is it considered poor form to wake up your sleeping toddler so you can take him to the store so you can get Twizzlers

Sassafrantz Text him again, he probably died from excitement and that’s why he isn’t responding.

WhirledRecord Everything happens for a reason except people signing up for a service that tweets how many people unfollowed them every day.

introvertedwife #ruleforgirls Kill the mage first. Always kill the mage first.

JoelGHodgson In this, my thousandth tweet. I just wanted to remind you all to watch out for snakes.

BuckyIsotope It’s pretty obvious the Hamburger Helper glove has to have an evil right-handed twin somewhere who goes around hurting hamburger.

BillMc7 A group of cats is called a boyfriend.

Piecomic Say what you will about money, but there’s no better mechanism for getting a total stranger to make you a burrito.

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I have been friends with Todd Ugine a long time. Though we’ve never met in person, I’ve developed a good relationship with both he and his wife, and through the computer screen I’ve watched his sweet girls grow. I don’t even remember how we met exactly, though I know it involves flickr, and now we’re IG buddies, too. His photos have always really inspired me, and along the way I found out he is an entomologist. After my post about using ladybugs in our garden, Todd kindly agreed to do a little ladybug Q&A.

Please help the Lost Ladybug Project by uploading photographs of ladybugs in your area to their website. It furthers the cause of science and is a fun, thrifty project to share with your kids. For free coloring pages, ladybug comics, lesson plans, identification tools, visit the Lost Ladybug’s Learning Page.

I know you are an entomologist, but can you tell me your actual job title? I’d love to tell Isobel I know a ladybug scientist.

For the past 13 or 14 years I’ve been an insect pathologist. Insects, just like people, get infected by all kinds of things: bacteria, viruses, fungi, nematodes, etc. My job as a pathologist is to try to figure out how to make pest insects sick with fungal diseases as a form of biological control. I also had several side projects that used other non-pathogenic organisms, like predators and parasitoids (think of the movie Alien), to control pest insects.

Currently, I’m funded by a National Science Foundation grant, The Lost Ladybug Project.

The United States Department of Agriculture introduced several ladybug species from Europe and Asia into North America to boost aphid control. They did this over several decades. In the mean time, populations of native ladybugs, which were once commonplace (the NY state insect is the 9-spotted ladybug), have been reported to be in decline and many species are now extremely hard to find. Because many ladybug species are now hard to find, it’s really hard to conduct research on them.

The Lost Ladybug Project has a huge citizen science component. We enlist the public to take photos of any ladybugs they see and submit them to our website. We use this, along with some collection data, to map the distribution of ladybugs across the US. We have an expert in ladybug identification that lets the rest of the group know when we have a sighting of a rare species. We can then send someone out to collect some of the rare species and bring them back into the lab where we start a colony that we can use for research.

The research we’re currently conducting includes questions like do native and non-native ladybugs hybridize, are they in competition for resources (aphids) or habitat, and did the introduction of non-native ladybugs also introduce non-native pathogens.

What’s the official name for ladybugs?

Short answer: Coccinellids (sounds like cock-sah-nell-ids). Long answer: So, ladybugs are beetles in the order Coleoptera. The family is Coccinellidae. Within the family there are many genera, and within each genus there are multiple species. The one you purchased are Hippodamia convergens, or the convergent lady beetle, named as such because they form huge aggregations in the fall in places like the Sierras.

How can you tell a male ladybug from a lady ladybug? Somewhere along the line as a kid I picked up the adage that spotted ladybugs are female, while ladybugs without spots are male, but that is the equivalent of learning about the birds and the bees through hearsay ? Is there an easy way to tell the genders apart? Does a spotless ladybug mean anything significant?

Spotting on the wings has nothing to do with sexual dimorphism. The males of some species do sometimes small white spots on the first pair of legs (closest to the head) right next to the body, but I’m not sure about H. convergens. I’d be curious to see if the males of the spotless species Coccinella californica has the leg spots, most other males in that genus do have the spots.

The spotlessness is just a characteristic of the species.

How far does a ladybug typically roam? We just let off about 100 in our yard. How close to our yard do you think they will stay?

It depends on how many aphids you have in your yard. If you’ve got tons, chances are you already have ladybugs, if not, then the ladybugs will surely be off to find something to eat pretty quickly. I asked my boss how far ladybugs can disperse, he said upwards of a few hundred kilometers in their lifetime. FAR!

Do ladybugs eat aphids exclusively?

No. There are some species that specialize on spider mites, others eat the eggs of other insects, they like to pollen and sometimes leaf tissue. Don’t worry about leaf feeding, it’s so minor as to go unnoticed by pretty much everyone except someone like me that watches them for a living.

How long do they live?

Assuming they don’t get chomped by something that likes to eat ladybugs, I’d say several months. They do spend the winter as adults and emerge in the spring to lay eggs and give rise to the next generation.

Do you have any special information or wisdom about ladybugs that you’d like to impart?

They’re very charismatic and, like the monarch, are recognized by pretty much everyone. They’re a great way to learn about how the world works: some times you eat, other times you get eaten. Check out some pictures of ladybug eggs, larvae and pupae. Learn to recognize them and point them out to people. They’ll be amazed, kids especially.

Thank you so much, Todd, for sharing your ladybug knowledge and amazing photos.

Little Big

Bless This Mess

Follow Friday – Ladybugs

In the Garden: Ladybug Q&A With Todd Ugine

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