Who does not remember the little ladybug, the sun, the bug? That is exactly what we called cute bugs in "red livery" in a black dot in childhood. Ladybugs in different cultures were symbols of many things, but more often - good luck.
Ladybug is a small bug consisting of 3 parts: head, chest and abdomen. She has wings and Lockers, and 6 more short legs attached to the chest. The larva of the ladybug is completely unlike its adult relatives. Looking at it, you might think that this is a completely different type of insect. There are many different ladybugs in the world. They have different sizes, color and structure. Their length is from 1 to 10 mm, depending on the species of ladybug. Females are larger than males.
Egg laying and the appearance of larvae
Typically, the female lays up to 1000 eggs for several months. The place of masonry is the underside of the sheet, from 10 to 50 eggs each. Moreover, at the same time, aphid colonies are formed, which are food for adults and the offspring that appeared. After a week and a half (it all depends on natural conditions), small caterpillars of a dark color appear from the eggs. The ladybug larva eats the remains of the egg shell from which it has just emerged. In order to properly refresh herself and increase survival in the first days of her existence, she eats nearby "relatives' houses" as food. It is believed that each clutch has unfertilized eggs, it is them that the ladybug larva eats. During its growing season, it “molts”, eats a lot, grows, pupates and turns into an adult. Usually the cycle lasts a month and a half.
What does the ladybug larva look like?
Picking up, the larva does not create a cocoon, but remains unprotected and it seems that it is simply inanimate. But during this period there is a transformation, the most difficult process of transformation into an adult insect - a ladybug. She is unusual in appearance and far from being as charming as an adult. The larva changes its cover four times. This is because her skin does not grow with her. Therefore, it discards the old, and under it the ladybug larva has a new one. The baby is growing, gaining weight, spots and tubercles appear, as well as transparent legs. But the larva is blind and nevertheless it continues to feed, examining one plant after another, finding colonies of aphids. Time passes, and the larva of a ladybug, which has gained weight and has grown, begins to prepare for pupation. A photo of this chrysalis attached with its tail to the plant is a great find for fans of photography hunting.
Washable migratory insects
Young individuals that were born live until their fall on their lands, destroying aphids, small insects, ticks, and then fly to the mountains for wintering. It would seem that they do there among the stones and without food? But ladybugs are flying not to eat, but to winter, hiding in cracks, crevices, under stones, and, numb, to stay there until spring. And when the sun starts to warm, the ladybugs will return to their lands to repeat the life cycle.
