Posts Tagged: lady beetle
The Bee and The Ladybug
A little drama in the mustard patch... A honey bee is foraging head-first in the mustard. She's...
A honey bee and a lady beetle, aka lady bug, thrust deep inside a mustard blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Okay, ladybug, get ready, here I come. We'll share, okay? Pollen and nectar for me. Aphids for you." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Okay, ladybug, I'm coming closer." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
"Okay, ladybug, I'm leaving. Enjoy the aphids." (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Lady Beetles: The First Ladies of the Garden Having a Ball
See those red spots on your milkweed seed pods? Lady beetles (aka ladybugs or "garden heroes") are...
A lady beetle feasts on aphids on a milkweed plant, Gomphocarpus physocarpus, also known as balloon-plant milkweed or hairy balls. Note the spiky hairs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Peek-a-boo? Or peek-a-beetle? A lady beetle, resplendent in red, crawls through the spiky hairs of milkweed seed pods. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hurry! A lady beetle snags aphids on a milkweed seed pod, while other aphids try to escape (far right). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Do 'Cats Eat Other 'Cats? Do Larva Eat Other Larva?
It's a dog-eat-dog world out there. It's also a 'cat-eat-'cat world, that is, when a caterpillar...
A lady beetle larva attacking and eating a syrphid fly larva. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The lady beetle larva (first photo) grew to an adult like this one. This is an Asian lady beetle. Regarding cannibalism, monarch caterpillars can and do eat one another. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Chance Encounter with an Ichneumon
So here's this lady beetle patrolling a rosebud. It's early spring--April 15--in Vacaville,...
A lady beetle meeets a male parasitic wasp from the family Ichneumonidae. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The lady beetle continues to patrol the rosebud, while the male parasitic wasp quickly leaves the scene. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Can Lady Beetle Larvae Eat Aphids?
Can the larvae of lady beetles (aka ladybugs) eat aphids? Yes, they can. And yes, they...
Close-up of a lady beetle larva eating an aphid. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
From a distance, you can see the ladybug larva and a lot of aphids on this yellow rose. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A multicolored Asian lady beetle prowls a yellow rose bush in search of aphids. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The lady beetle lays her tiny eggs in clusters beneath a leaf. These are probably the eggs of a multicolored Asian lady beetle. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)