Western Blood-red Lady Beetle
I found three different species of Lady Beetles in my garden this past weekend and wanted to share a bit about them with you. I’ll start with the Western Blood-red Lady Beetle or (Cycloneda polita), also sometimes called the “Polished Lady Bug.”
If you are someone who needs reading glasses (like me) to see things up close, you could easily be fooled into thinking the spot of red on the plant leaf is a drop of blood. Given how accident prone I am, when I first spotted this one, I figured I’d poked my finger again on one of the prickly berry vines that are coming up in my raised garden beds. Upon closer inspection, I was glad I had my camera phone handy.
Ladybird or ladybug beetles are a large and very diverse group of beetles. They are classified in the insect order Coleoptera, family Coccinellidae. Most are known to be highly beneficial, feeding on garden pests like aphids. The Western Blood-red Lady Beetle is one of our native ladybird beetle species. Unfortunately, research is indicating we are losing our native ladybird beetle populations as they are outcompeted by imported non-native ladybird beetles released for biological control.
Further information can be found by following the links below.
*Distribution of Cycloneda polita – https://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20p?res=720&see=I_JEL1585;&start=http://www.discoverlife.org/users/l/Losey,_John/JEL.html
*Lost Ladybug project http://www.lostladybug.org/files/LLP%204HSet3-6.pdf