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Not only children love ladybugs, adult gardeners are also happy about the little insects. Here are seven facts about the beneficial insect.

The ladybug can not only look beautiful, but also be useful

It can be found in almost every garden and often gets children very excited: The ladybug (Coccinellidae) is probably one of the most popular insects of all. No wonder, after all, it not only scores with its unusual colouring, but can also be quite useful in the garden.

But have you ever wondered why the ladybug is a lucky charm or how old such a little animal can get? We have collected seven interesting and useful facts about the ladybug for you.

1. Beneficial…

Of course, all gardeners know the ladybug as a beneficial insect. In fact, the ladybug eats not only aphids, but also spider mites, bugs, thrips, and beetle and sawfly larvae. If food is scarce, some ladybug species have a very special tactic: They simply switch their diet to pollen and fruit until there is enough other food. But there are also ladybug species that feed entirely on plants.

Ladybugs like to eat aphids and other small pests

2.… or pest?

Unfortunately, ladybugs don't always bring good luck. In fact, the insects can even be real pests. In particular, the twenty-four spotted ladybird, which is one of the three herbivorous species in Europe, causes damage in warmer countries. He nibbles mainly on alfalfa and sugar beet, but also on cloves and dahlias. Fortunately, in Germany the ladybug only causes damage in exceptional cases.

3. The ladybug as a lucky charm

Have you ever wondered where the ladybug got its name from? In fact, it goes back to the Virgin Mary. Since ladybugs were already known as pest repellents in the Middle Ages, farmers believed that they must have been a gift from the Virgin Mary. At the same time, the ladybug evolved like thisalso a symbol of good luck: If you had a lot of ladybirds in the field, you didn't have to worry that the crop would be destroyed by aphids.

The little ladybug has been seen as a symbol of luck since the Middle Ages

4. Bad smell

If the ladybug feels threatened, one of them has a very special way of defending itself: it can secrete a yellowish secretion from its synovial membranes. This has a particularly unpleasant odor that is supposed to scare away predators. In addition, this secretion even contains toxic alkaloids. In addition, the ladybug tastes extremely bitter - that makes it unattractive even for gluttons.

5. Read the age from the dots

Who didn't count the dots on ladybugs as a child to find out how old the little animals are? Unfortunately, this myth is wrong: the number of points does not reflect the lifespan of the beetle. In fact, most ladybugs only live for about a year. Nevertheless, counting the points is not in vain - the number and arrangement of the points can be used to distinguish between the different species of ladybirds.

6. Dotted, striped or just plain?

When we think of a ladybug, we immediately picture a red beetle with black dots in our mind's eye. But it's not just the number of points that can vary - the ladybugs come in a whole variety of different colors and patterns.

A yellow ladybug with black stripes

Some species are monochromatic without spots and can be colored in any color from light beige or yellow to brown or black. In our domestic two-spot ladybird there are not only red beetles with black spots, but also black beetles with red spots. Some ladybugs even have stripes.

7. A Garden for Ladybugs

Luckily

Attracting ladybugs to the garden is quite simple: Since the ladybugs’ favorite food is aphids, it is often enough to do without chemical pesticides - the little beneficial insects will then take care of the rest. Even a more natural one Garden with a pile of leaves will bring joy to small insects, because in it you can perfectly winter. If you also offer the animals a wide range of flowering plants throughout the year - for example with the Plantura beneficial insect magnet - ladybugs feel completely at home.

If you want to learn more about domestic garden animals, then take a lookHave a look at our article about bumblebees.

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Gardening Tips