Lady Beetles Native to Florida

Lady beetles are in the order Coleoptera and the family Coccinellidae. There are about 450 species of lady beetles in North America and many are not native species but introduced purposely to control aphids on agriculture or accidentally in nursery plants.

The common name, “ladybug” is actually a misnomer because these cuties are, more specifically, beetles. Bugs and beetles are differentiated by their life-cycles. A bug’s life cycle consists of an egg hatching into a nymph that is a miniature version of the adult. It then grows larger and sheds its exoskeleton until it reaches an adult size. A beetle’s life cycle consists of an egg hatching into a larva that looks nothing like the adult. The larva grows and sheds its skin, then pupates, soon shedding its pupal casing to reveal an adult beetle.

Lady beetles are small, mostly round beetles with short clubbed antennae. The leathery fore-wings (elytra) serve as a protective covering for the hind wings when at rest. The elytra come in an array of colors from pale yellow, orange, red, and even gray. Some species have spots, and some do not. The legs are short and can be retracted under their bodies.

When I first started researching this article I had no idea of the magnitude of the problem with Asian lady beetles but it’s just mind blowing. They are displacing our native species to the point of extinction and are being sold like crazy to add more into the environment to perpetuate the problem. I found so much misinformation it was hard to wade through it all. Even a University of Florida article referring to introduced lady beetles as adventive (having arrived from somewhere else and established feral populations), rather than the non-native invasive species that they are! Perhaps since they most likely introduced them to begin with, they are being dismissive of the problem. We are supposedly in an age of transparency and beyond this trickery! I guess not. Okay I’m getting off my rant.

Most ladybeetles you see in your garden are likely non-native. They were introduced into this country in the 1970s and 1980s to control aphid populations on agricultural crops. The 9-spotted lady beetle (Coccinella novemnotata) is one that used to be common but is now seldom seen because the Asian ladybeetles out-compete them for habitat and food. This one is also difficult to source for purchase. Another native is the convergent lady beetle (Hippodamia convergens) which seems to be more easily found for sale. If you’re going to purchase lady beetles to release in your green space I implore you to research and buy native lady beetles that have not been wild-collected. Wild collectors that resell wild-caught lady beetles are contributing to the problem of lower natural numbers of native lady beetles. Find out where your ladybeetles are coming from and hopefully the seller has an in-house breeding program. The wild-collected specimens also may have diseases or parasites that will be spread around the country so purchasing from a reputable seller will hopefully insure healthy lady beetles free from these problems. Purchase those that are found in Florida if possible so they will have the best chance at survival in your green space. These will have the genetics to handle our heat and humidity.

Be aware that purchasing and releasing them is just the beginning. They will stay only as long as there is a food source so please do not spray pesticides because you want to allow aphids and scale insects to inhabit at least some of your plants for future generations of lady beetles to feed on.

Adult lady beetles lay their tiny eggs in the spring on plants that have an abundance of the food they and their larvae eat, such as aphids, scale insects or spider mites. This is vital food for them and their growing larvae.

The larvae look nothing like the adult in just about every species. Newly hatched larvae start consuming prey within a few hours of hatching. They continue to eat until their skin no longer fits anymore and they have to molt into a larger, looser skin. The larvae experience five molts, which take approximately 12 days, before the final pupal stage.

The pupa turns into a very hard chrysalis much like a butterfly chrysalis. Some lady beetle larvae attach themselves to an adjacent plant to pupate while others do not. Once the pupal skin hardens, the larvae go through a metamorphosis, similar to that of butterflies, and then emerge as a brightly colored adult lady beetle. The pupal stage generally takes about three days. When the adult lady beetle emerges it is soft and pale, but within hours the shell (elytra) will harden and become brightly colored.

When cold weather arrives some lady beetles congregate in groups in the crevices of rocks, leaf litter, and fallen branches, looking for protection from the cold. Many find their ways into our homes through small cracks around windows and doors. The most common species doing this is the Asian lady beetle. Lady beetles usually do not eat when they are over-wintering. Many of them happen to be in the late stages of their lives and may not live to see the spring, yet others will live long enough to emerge into the warmth of springtime and gorge themselves on aphids and continue on with their life cycle. An adult lady beetle can eat 30 to 60 aphids, or scale insects, each and every day, and approximately 300 lady beetles can protect an acre of trees – that is as long as you do not spray your landscape with poisons.

Lady beetles are greatly beneficial to our environment and should be protected. I do not use pesticides and am blessed with hundreds of these charming little creatures sharing my green space. Once you start to garden organically you will be surprised to see all the new creatures that begin to show up in your yard.

Coccinella novemnotata
(9-Spotted Lady Beetle)

Description: the 9-spotted lady beetles is about 1/4 of an inch in size with a black head and an orange to reddish body. The pronatum has white markings and its elytra (wing coverings) have a total of nine black dots (though they may not always have nine).

Common Names: nine spotted lady beetle and nine-spotted ladybug.

Latin Name: Coccinella novemnotata

Behavior: they move about their environment in search of aphids and plants with aphids to lay their eggs on because both the larva and adults eat aphids.

Habitat: agricultural fields, gardens, meadows, and prairies.

Native Range: Nine-spotted lady beetle is most likely extinct in Florida and most of the eastern U.S.

“Only 25 years ago the nine-spotted lady beetle was considered one of the most widespread and common lady beetles in North American north of Mexico. Its range stretched across the continent from Maine to Florida west to British Columbia and southern California. Unfortunately, the species has undergone a severe decline in recent years, and few if any individuals have been found in most states. The last time it was found in most northeastern states was in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, although in 2006 one specimen was collected in Virginia – the first individual collected in eastern North America in over fourteen years and only the seventh known to be collected anywhere in North America in a decade.” [1]

With the help of citizen scientists the Lost Ladybug Project has located populations of Coccinella novemnotata (C9) where we would not have known to look. They are still extremely rare. The nearly 300 found by the Lost Ladybug Project so far is largely due to search teams targeting locations where C9 has been seen. [2] This program focuses on New York populations, but I believe every sighting will help the species. If you can contribute please check out their program at http://www.lostladybug.org/

Food: adults and larvae eat insect nymphs, insect eggs, spider mites, pollen, and nectar when insects are scarce. Males are known to eat plant leaves to supplement the hormone sterol needed for breeding.

Season Most Active: warm months from spring to early fall

Coleomegilla maculata ssp. fuscilabris
spotted orange lady beetle

Description: the spotted orange lady beetle is about 1/3 an inch in length, and have a reddish-orange body with seven distinct spots with three on each elytra (wing cover) and one in the center with half on each side. They have white patches on their head and thorax.

Common Names: in Florida we have a subspecies of Coleomegilla maculata which has the same common names such as spotted pink lady beetle, pink spotted lady beetle, twelve-spotted lady beetle, and pink lady beetle.

Latin Name: Coleomegilla maculate ssp. fuscilabris

Behavior: they move about their environment in search of aphids, and plants with aphids to lay their eggs on, because both the larva and adults eat aphids. Look for aphids and you may find them on the underside of the leaves, or eating their next meal of aphids.

Habitat: fields, agricultural sites, gardens, forests, meadows, scrub, sandhill, and pine habitats and any place where aphids and other insects are found. In Florida it tends to be associated with dry ecosystems and sites.

Native Range: they are native to North, Central, and South America, with distinct subspecies covering different regions.

The subspecies found in Florida is called Coleomegilla maculata fuscilabris. Coleomegilla maculata lengi is found in the eastern United States (from the Great Plains to East Coast), and Coleomegilla maculata strenua is found from Texas to California (and into Mexico).

Food: both adults and their larvae feed on aphids, mites, insect eggs, and eat pollen and nectar when insects are scarce.

Season Most Active: they are active almost the entire year where the weather is mild, with peak activity from late winter into spring, summer, and fall. They overwinter in communal groups which may emerge to reproduce in the warmer periods.

Cycloneda sanguinea
(spotless lady beetle)

Description: the spotless lady beetle is about ¼ inch in size and is reddish-orange to red in color. Its elytra (wing coverings) do not have spots, but there are two white spots on the pronatum (behind the head), and white markings on the head and thorax.

Common Names: spotless lady beetle, spotless ladybug, spotless ladybird beetle, and blood-red lady beetle.

Latin Name: Cycloneda sanguinea

Behavior: they are constantly on the move searching for aphids and aphid rich areas in which to lay their eggs.

Habitat: various habitats, including fields, gardens, wild areas, and agricultural crops.

Native Range: the spotless lady beetle is found naturally occurring in all of Florida, the southern United States, into Latin America, Argentina, the Caribbean, the Cayman Islands and the Galapagos Islands.

Food: the spotless lady beetle eats aphids and scale insects in adult and larva forms. When aphids are scarce they are known to consume pollen nectar.

Season Most Active: in Florida and warm climates the spotless lady beetle is active year-round.

Hippodamia convergens
(convergent lady beetle)

Description: the convergent lady beetle is about ¼ inch in length. It has a slightly domed body, is orange-red in color with up to 13 black spots. It has two white lines on its thorax that come together at the back of the head.

Common Names: convergent lady beetle and convergent ladybug.

Latin Name: Hippodamia convergens

Behavior: this lady beetle is a voracious feeder and has been used commercially for pest control in agricultural settings. It is known to overwinter in huge numbers. This is one of the most commercialized lady beetles. Many are collected during their dormancy phase when large numbers of them gather together to stay warm, and sold commercially.

Habitat: meadows, forests, gardens, crop, and grasslands.

Native Range: the convergent lady beetle is found throughout the United States to northern Florida, Canada, Mexico and Central America.

Food: the convergent lady beetle adults and larvae eat aphids.

Season Most Active: spring and fall.

Naemia seriata
(seaside lady beetle)

Description: the seaside lady beetle has a slightly elongated shape and the colors vary from light brown, orange, red or yellow. They are marked with large black dots. The males often have yellow heads.

Common Names: seaside lady beetle and seaside ladybug.

Latin Name: Naemia seriata

Behavior: during spring, summer and fall these beetles are actively flying around in search of food, mates, and spots to lay their eggs.

Habitat: the seaside lady beetle is found in coastal habitats, beaches, bay islands, and salt marshes.

Native Range: the native range of the seaside lady beetle is coastal areas from New England south into Florida and west to Texas.

Food: the seaside lady beetle is omnivorous which makes it very special among our native lady beetles because most just consume insects. Both the adults and larvae feed on insects and plants. Their diet consists of scale insects, pollen, insect eggs, mites, cordgrass, and resort to cannibalism when food is scarce. The varied diet of this lady beetle allows it to adapt to different ecosystems and sites more easily that other lady beetles.

Season Most Active: spring, summer and into fall. They hibernate during cold spells because they will succumb to freezing temperatures.

Neoharmonia venusta venusta
(V-marked lady beetle)

Description: the v-marked lady beetle is about ¼ inch in size usually showing a v-shaped pattern of spots or mark. Some forms can be almost completely black.

Common Names: v-marked lady beetle and charming lady beetle.

Latin Name: Neoharmonia venusta venusta. There is another subspecies Neoharmonia venusta subspecies ampla its found in the US but not in Florida.

Behavior: the V-marked lady beetle lays eggs singly unlike others that lay eggs in clusters so this behavior makes their larvae develop more slowly consequently this beetle has a slower paced life than the more quick aphids eating lady beetles that lay masses of eggs.

Habitat: since their primary prey is willow leaf beetles they can usually be found amongst willow trees, but they do live in a variety of environments from forests, meadows, gardens, agricultural crops in both urban and rural areas.

Native Range: the v-marked lady beetle is found in Florida. In the USA it is found from Maine to Florida, west to Michigan, Nebraska, and Texas.

Food: the v-marked lady adults and larvae feed on aphids, scale insects, but leaf beetle larvae are their major food source. They are important natural pest control for willow and poplar trees where leaf beetle larvae are in abundance.

Season Most Active: late spring and late summer.

Olla v-nigrum
(ashy gray lady beetle)

Description: the ashy gray lady beetle is about ¼ inch in length, pale gray in color with black spots. They have white markings on their heads. Some forms may be black with red spots. There seems to be a rare form known as a ‘twice stabbed’ lady beetle that is black with two red spots.

Common Names: ashy gray lady beetle, ashy gray ladybird, and ashy gray ladybug.

Latin Name: Olla v-nigrum

Behavior: they are on a constant search for food and are voracious predators. They are known to cannibalize their own eggs, larvae and pupa when food becomes scarce. Of all the lady beetles they have been found to have the shortest larval phase at about seven days >80% pupal viability. [3]

Habitat: the ashy gray lady beetle is found in forests (in the trees and shrubs), urban areas, gardens, and agricultural areas especially citrus and sugar cane. They prefer warm and sunny conditions

Native Range: the ashy gray lady beetle is native to Florida and the southern United States. I have found many conflicting reports of its native range, but overall the consensus seems to be it is native from the Rocky Mountains south to Florida and Mexico. As with all the native lady beetles their numbers have declined because of the increase in invasive Asian lady beetles.

Food: the ashy gray lady beetle has been shown to be an important predator of citrus psyllids (jumping plant lice), and sugar cane aphids in both adult and larval stages. They also consume other aphids, insect eggs, whiteflies, scale insects, pollen and nectar.

Season Most Active: spring through summer.

Non-native Asian lady beetle

Footnotes

[1] University of Arkansas Arthropod Museum – Nine Spotted lady Beetle https://arthropod.uark.edu/nine-spotted-lady-beetle/#:~:text=Its%20range%20stretched%20across%20the,or%20even%20global%20climate%20change.

[2] The Lost Ladybug Project http://www.lostladybug.org/

[3] Biology and fertility life table of Eriopis connexa, Harmonia axyridis and Olla v-nigrum (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) https://www.scielo.br/j/bjb/a/jSj5fH37RTycMgptmznRpbr/?lang=en