7 Fascinating Ladybug Facts You Didn’t Know

Ladybug Facts: Do Spots Reveal Age?

Courtesy Carol Milisen

They can have as many as 16 spots, but some ladybugs have no spots at all. One of the most commonly believed ladybug facts is that you can tell their age by their number of spots, but this is a myth.

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Ladybug vs Asian Lady Beetle

While most ladybugs are good, there is one nonnative species that people don’t like. The Asian lady beetle was introduced in California in 1916. Today it’s more common in the East.

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Ladybug Eggs

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Females will lay up to 1,000 eggs within a few months, generally from spring to early summer.

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Ladybug Nicknames

You might see these insects called by a few different names, including: ladybirds, ladybugs, lady beetles and lady cows.

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Ladybug Defenses

Ladybugs usually protect themselves from predators in one of two ways: They either play dead or secrete a fluid from their legs to make themselves taste bad.

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Types of Ladybugs

You can find out about 6,000 different species of ladybugs around the world. There are about 500 species in the United States alone. One of the most common ladybugs is the seven-spotted lady beetle. It has seven black spots on its back.

Here’s how to tell the difference between ladybugs and Asian beetles.

Ladybugs Eat Garden Pests

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Ladybugs are great garden predators. Here’s a fun ladybug fact: a ladybug can eat up to 50 aphids a day. Here are six “bad bugs” they’ll eat:

• Aphids
• Mites
• Whiteflies
• Scale insects
• Mealybugs
• Thrips

Next, learn how to tell the difference between a monarch egg and an aphid.