Coccinellids will also eat nectar, honeydew, pollen, fruit, vegetation, and fungus - which increase survival when prey is scarce, reduce mortality during diapause, fuel migration, and enhance reproduction. They also eat scale insects (Coccoidea) and mealy bugs (Pseudococcidae), as well as insect eggs and pupae, including those of their own and other species of ladybirds. ![]() Most ladybirds are insect predators, mainly eating aphids. Larval and adult Coccinellids have similar diets. Many species of ladybird hibernate, sometimes as large aggregations. The pupa (see third picture below) is attached to a leaf, and after 3-12 days the adult insect emerges. Larvae of some species are covered in white wax and look like mealybugs. Larvae of most species have numerous tubercles and bristles - they can usually be identified to species by the time they reach the fourth instar. Their larvae undergo 4 instars - the larva in the second picture below is in the third instar. Nearly all Coccinellids reproduce via sexually-produced eggs (see first picture below of eggs with a newly hatched larva). ![]() Their tarsi are 3-lobed, the antennae are clubbed, and the palps are triangular and axe-shaped. Most coccinellids have round to elliptical dome-shaped bodies, dark legs, heads and antennae. Whilst these patterns and colours can distinguish species, they often vary between members of the same species. Some species are black, dark grey, gray, or brown. In many species the wing covers ( elytra) are yellow, orange or red, often with contrasting spots. ![]() Adult ladybirds (such as the one above) are 0.8 to 18 mm long. Ladybirds are sometimes confused with other beetles, but most species can be readily distinguished using an ordinary 10x hand lens. Several ladybird species have been used for the biological control of insect pests. The US for example has about 400 species (including 30 non-native), Australia has 260 native species, and 50-60 species are recorded from UK - including several presumed now extinct and several imports. Different species of the family are found worldwide. Ladybirds / ladybugs are neither birds nor (true) bugs ( Hemiptera) but are species of smallish usually brightly-coloured predatory beetles in the family Coccinellidae.
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