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Fun Facts
• Ladybugs are a kind of beetle. Beetles are insects. Some scientists think that there may be 10 million different kinds of beetles, but only about 350,000 have been officially identified and named. • There are more beetles on the Earth than any other kind of animal. In fact, one quarter (25 percent) of all animal species may be beetles! John Burdon Sanderson Haldane--a famous British biologist--once said, "God has an inordinate fondness for beetles." • Ladybugs have a pungent, musty odor--like dead leaves but better! This odor is so faint that you can't smell it unless you've got a lot of ladybugs (hundreds!) in one place. • Ladybugs were named in England more than 500 years ago, when they were called beetles of Our Lady or Lady beetles. They may have been named after Mary, the mother of Jesus, who was called "Our Lady." Or they may have been named in honor of an ancient, pagan goddess, who was also called "Lady." • In many countries, people think ladybugs are good luck. In Iran, ladybugs are called "good news" and in Switzerland "good God's little fatty." • In folk medicine, ground-up ladybugs were used as cures for crying babies, stomach ache, measles, and toothaches. • There are about 4,300 species of ladybugs worldwide--over 400 in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. • Ladybugs come in many colors--yellow, orange, pink, and red. Some ladybugs are black with red spots. Some have no spots at all. • Ladybugs secrete a yellow oil from their leg joints that stinks and tastes bad. • Birds don't eat ladybugs because their bright colors are a warning that they don't taste good. • Wing covers are called "elytra" (elytron is the singular). Under their elytra, ladybugs have fragile wings so thin you can see through them. They are stiffened and strengthened by networks of black veins. • Wing covers are made of stuff called chitin, just like human fingernails. • When they fly, ladybugs flap their wings 85 times a second! • An adult, female ladybug can eat 75 aphids every day (an aphid is a tiny bug that sucks sap from plant stems and leaves). A male ladybug can eat 40 aphids. Some ladybugs eat 5,000 aphids in the course of their lives. • Ladybugs don't chew up and down, the way people do. They chew side-to-side. • Ladybug antennae have eleven segments and are used to touch, smell, and hear. Ladybugs also smell with their feet. • In winter, ladybugs gather in big groups and huddle in crevices or under logs or rocks to stay warm; they rest and don't eat. • As many as 80,000 ladybugs will fit inside a gallon bottle. |
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