While trimming up a rose bush that was OBVIOUSLY infested with aphids, I left a few branches I hadn’t planned to because I found these. Ladybug eggs.
Another leaf shows just how strategic ladybug mothers can be. While people often want to purchase ladybugs to eat aphids, it’s their larvae that eat the most aphids. The adults are mostly focused on reproducing. But the moment these eggs hatch, the babies eat. Scroll down for a video time-lapse that shows how indiscriminate they can be.
In the photo above, there are adult aphids and young aphids. They reproduce quickly because there are all females that were BORN PREGNANT. They give birth to more females that are ALREADY PREGNANT. What?! Read about parthenogenesis here.
A ladybug mom looking for a place to leave eggs. The leaves are shiny and sticky. That’s aphid poop. Gross, huh? This is a two-spotted ladybug, or lady beetle as they’re also called, one of the most common varieties we see in our yards.
OK. Here’s that ladybug video. Watch the whole life-cycle, and see those vicious larvae. Brutal.
~Debbie