Many people admire insects, not suspecting at all that some of them cause enormous damage to agricultural crops. In total there are about 760 thousand species of various insects on Earth, among which there are more than 300 thousand beetles.
A subgroup of beetles is subdivided into 3 suborders - ancient beetles, carnivores and carnivores. In the first, richly presented in the past, there are only a few dozen existing species today, but it is the starting point for the other two. Among such a variety, red beetles with black dots and, conversely, black ones with red spots stand out against the background of greenery.
The article provides information on the more common and common ones.
General information about bugs
Before we find out what the red beetles with black dots are called, we learn what insects are - beetles.
These are the most diverse and numerous species of insects that live in almost all areas of land and water - in the tundra, deserts, mountains, forests, in fresh water, and even in a human dwelling.
Bugs differ greatly in appearance and size. Some are so scanty that they cannot be seen, others, for example, like the goliath beetle, can reach 15 centimeters in length.
Features of the structure of beetles
The red beetle with black dots on the wings (shown in the photo below), like all other varieties of beetles, has its own structural features. The main distinguishing feature of beetles is their strong and rigid front wings (or elytra), which when folded form a chitinous shell that protects the thinner second pair of wings - webbed.
There are so many creatures in the world who want to have lunch with bugs that the second had to get such chitinous hard armor to protect their bodies. Like all insects, beetles have a head, thorax (abdomen) and chest. Their jaws (only three pairs) are extremely powerful and durable. Most beetles have good eyesight, but they mainly rely on the sensitive organs of touch - antennae located on the sides of their heads.
The heart is located inside the abdomen, and it is protected by a strong chest plate (pronotum). The belly also contains the intestinal tract, stomach and the entire respiratory system.
Many beetles have two pairs of wings, of which the lower ones, hidden in a sitting position under chitinous elytra, are used for flight. Before taking off, the beetle raises the elytra, and only then spreads its delicate, thin wings.
In total, like other insects, the beetle has 6 legs attached to the thoracic part of the body.
Ladybug family
These cute little bugs are familiar even to young children. They are well known due to their lack of fear of people and their bright red color.
Ladybug (red beetle with black dots) is more known, seven-point, although their species diversity is huge.
In total, there are 5, 200 species in the world of the Ladybugs family, in the order of the Winged-winged animals. So their relatives are numerous species of beetles. Some individuals have a red color with black dots, others have irregular spots instead of dots, and others are black with red spots. Very rarely, but ladybugs are one-color, with a black color.
Ladybug description
These are small red beetles with black dots (the photo can be seen below) with a rounded convex body. The lower part of their torso is completely flat. Their usual color is red, black and yellow contrasting tones. The head is small. The legs are short, thin, black. Body length is 5-8 mm.
In sunny weather, these thermophilic insects are active: they crawl hastily, quickly take off and again sit on plants in search of food. Their flight is very light, fast and silent.
Usually the victims of ladybugs are sedentary insects, and therefore the hunt for them is only eating the victim.
Distribution, features
Ladybugs are common around the world. They live on all continents of the world, except Antarctica. Ladybugs inhabit open spaces with grassy vegetation - gardens, meadows, forest edges, steppes, less often - forests. Clusters form only during wintering, and so live alone. In search of food, they crawl along the leaves and stems of plants, and they can also fly over long distances.
The peculiarity of these bugs is that in case of danger they secrete a rather sharply smelling, poisonous yellowish liquid, which scares off enemies. Only a few varieties of these beetles are harmful to crops. The rest (predatory species) destroy worms, aphids, leaf-sheaths and other pests of garden and horticultural crops.
Not always a ladybug is a red beetle with black dots (this photo shows). Some of the varieties have a yellow outfit with dots of black, others are painted black with red dots. There are even white ladybugs! All these are young bugs that have recently emerged from the pupa. They acquire an adult, normal color after a few hours after birth.
Varieties
Among the many varieties of ladybugs, as noted above, there are not only red beetles with black dots, but also black and red in color.
- The four-spotted cow is a black beetle with 4 large red spots on the elytra and with a body length of up to 6 mm. This is a ubiquitous common species. They destroy colonies of sedentary insects that suck out the sap from plants: worms, scale insects, and hermes.
- Two-point cow is a species that is variable in color. Usually these are beetles with a black pronotum and with elytra of red color, each having a black spot. The body has a length of up to 5 mm. Destroy (both beetles and larvae) aphids.
- The broad-faced cow is a black beetle with 2 red spots on the elytra. The body 3 mm long is covered with hairs. Both larvae and beetles feed on scutes and aphids; moreover, during the full cycle of their development, one beetle can destroy more than 600 pests.
Red beetle with black dots
The name of his bug is a soldier. This red insect is known to almost everyone because it lives next to humans.
These bugs, with bright black and red colors, can grow up to 12 millimeters in length. They do not know how to fly, because they have no wings. Although there are exceptions.
The larvae of this bug are very similar in appearance to adult insects.
Propagation and behavior of soldiers
Beetles inhabit Eurasia in temperate climatic zones, and are also found in North Africa and North America. The bug can be seen almost at any time of the year, except for winter. Especially a lot of them in the spring, when the sun warms well. They sit in small groups in open spaces.
On the trees, red beetles with black dots are in love with the old bark. They are also located on loose boards, on bricks, on fences, and even in houses they can be seen in rural settlements. In essence, these insects are completely harmless.
The composition of their diet - fruits that have fallen on the ground, seeds, plant juice. Their main feature is that they sometimes eat their relatives when they live in large colonies.
At the end of autumn, beetles with a red back and black dots lie for wintering under fallen leaves, under the bark of trees and in other places, sheltered from the wind and severe frosts. With the onset of winter, soldiers enter the adult insect stage. Nature endowed them with an unpleasant odor to scare away natural enemies.
Schrenk
The red beetles with black dots can be attributed to the beetle - an insect of Schrenk. It is easily recognizable by its bright characteristic appearance. The wing covers are red or orange in color, with transverse stripes and black spots. The body is characterized by thick hairiness.
On sunny days, these beetles can be seen sitting one at a time or several individuals on flowers. Usually they are slow and listless. Larvae of them are more mobile than adults. Penetrating into the locust egg capsules, they feed on their eggs.
These insects got this name due to the fact that their blood contains poison (cantharidin), which strongly irritates the skin and causes the appearance of water bubbles (abscesses). It may happen that an animal that swallows this beetle with grass will fall ill and die.
