What do ladybugs feed on and what is their use

In different countries, this bug is called in different ways, but in its name there is always a deep respect of the people towards a small insect. In England it is called "lady-beetle", in Ukraine - "sun", and in Russia and, incidentally, in France, too - "ladybug." Why the cow? Probably, because the bug, when frightened, allocates hemolymph from the joints of the legs, whitish substance, similar in appearance (but not to taste!) To milk. And God calls her because of the tremendous benefits that she brings to our gardens, vineyards and orchards. Have you ever wondered what the ladybugs feed on?

Here she slowly creeps along the blade of grass: red, like half of a lacquered ball, with seven black dots on the wings ... Stop! In fact, there are about four and a half thousand species of ladybirds all over the world. And they are not only red seven-point, but also yellow, white, black, orange. They are found on all continents, where there is at least some vegetation. There is a meadow and a field ladybird, the one that lives on trees, and even the one that loves to live on aquatic plants. But the gastronomic preferences of the entire huge kingdom of "suns" are almost the same - they are soft insects.

There are, of course, malicious "suns", and the usual ladybug on a hot summer day will not quench your thirst by chewing a juicy leaf. However, such harm is incomparable with the benefit that the beetle brings to farmers. To see how the ladybug feeds, you need to arm yourself with a magnifying glass. It's hard to believe that this cute beetle is a terrible and voracious predator, because he and the speed of movement is small, and the tools of capture, as, for example, in the praying mantis, no. But the "sun" is not necessary, because its extraction is even slower and completely defenseless.

What do ladybugs feed on? Their main diet is aphids and its larvae. Do not disdain "the sun" and the chervets, whitefly, spider mite, small caterpillars, scutellum, herbivorous bugs and larvae of the Colorado beetles. In this case, the insect shows an unusual appetite: for a day one beetle eats 150-200 adult aphids or 300-400 larvae. This tireless predator can even burrow into the ground to reach the aphid parasitizing on the roots. For this quality - the gluttony and ability to search for prey - it is loved by experienced farmers. Earlier, peasants living in the foothills, went to the mountains at the end of winter to find winter cows for winter, collected them in sacks, and when the sun warmed, they let them out to their land. During the Soviet era, bugs were "sprayed" over collective-farm fields and vineyards, dropping them from plane-corn aircraft. Unfortunately, now this practice is forgotten, and pest control is conducted with the help of chemicals or GMOs.

What do ladybugs eat in winter? This migratory insect with the first nocturnal frosts begins migration into the mountains. There it creeps into cracks and clefts of rocks. On the wintering grounds, so many of them fly together that they cover the stones with a red pattern. Sometimes in one place accumulates up to several million individuals. In cramped, yes, no offense: the more bugs will fit into a tiny slit, the greater the chance of experiencing fierce mountain frosts. As soon as the big sun begins to warm the stones, the little "suns" wake up from the hibernation and fly out. Slightly weaned on the young grass, bugs lay eggs not far from a large colony of aphids to provide barely hatched progeny with food. The number of eggs directly depends on the nutrition of the mother. In the masonry there are from two hundred to four hundred eggs.

After 5-8 days, small larvae appear from them. What do the ladybugs eat in their childhood, which lasts about twenty days? First, neighboring eggs, of which no one has hatched yet to stock up with nutrients until the larva finds its main food - eggs, larvae or adult aphids. And in their search for young "suns" are very patient and methodical - after all, they do not have wings, like adults, to fly to places with the best food base, and they tirelessly, meter by meter, explore the space around them.