Garden: Can't believe I've never seen a ladybug larvae before now

[PerditaPickle]

I can't believe I've never seen a ladybug larvae before now, but it turns out that this is the case - saw this fella on the way home from work and thought he was so distinctive I'd snap a photo (sadly not a great one, but what can you do).

Edit: had accidentally attached two copies of photo

[Sefiru]

I can't believe I've never seen a ladybug larvae before now, but it turns out that this is the case - saw this fella on the way home from work and thought he was so distinctive I'd snap a photo (sadly not a great one, but what can you do).

Edit: had accidentally attached two copies of photo

I didn't even know ladybugs had larvae -- there are some beetles that have the same body structure their whole life cycle. Of course others have larvae that are a lot more grubby than this one. It kind of looks like a dragonfly nymph. Very cool!

[Hariti]

I can't believe I've never seen a ladybug larvae before now,

I used to see these all over the place at my grandparent's house. They lived in a wooded area, and there were lots of creepy crawlies running around.

[LadyBug]

I can't believe I've never seen a ladybug larvae before now, but it turns out that this is the case - saw this fella on the way home from work and thought he was so distinctive I'd snap a photo (sadly not a great one, but what can you do).

Edit: had accidentally attached two copies of photo

Having looked closer at this picture than the one in the Discord I can say that thing is definitely more creepy than crawly. I sincerely hope my future larva is cuter than that when it comes time (This has been the line of the family jokes since I showed off that pic at Thanksgiving for the record, thanks for the opportunity to get a laugh Pickle!)

I'm now super curious about the life cycle of beetles with the same body shape all their lives though! To The Google!

[PerditaPickle]

(This has been the line of the family jokes since I showed off that pic at Thanksgiving for the record, thanks for the opportunity to get a laugh Pickle!)

I'm glad there was an opportunity for such laughs!   

I must say I didn't know ladybugs had larvae either (though I'd never really thought about it), and Google did a very good job of interpreting the search terms I input.

I recall as a kid we used to scour the local meadows collecting up ladybugs in jars, which is why it seems funny that I don't remember ever seeing one of these (I can't recall what we did with the jars of ladybugs afterwards - can only hope my environmentalist nature had already kicked in at that age and I knew to release them again, but I can't swear to it...)

Also, one summer they sort of swarmed, and my Mum kept getting bitten by them everywhere she went - I'd never been bitten by one before that, and didn't even know they could bite but my Mum must have been particularly tasty to them, or else particularly offensive to them!

[PerditaPickle]

that thing is definitely more creepy than crawly.

I think it's kind of awesome.

[Sefiru]

Also, one summer they sort of swarmed, and my Mum kept getting bitten by them everywhere she went - I'd never been bitten by one before that, and didn't even know they could bite but my Mum must have been particularly tasty to them, or else particularly offensive to them!

Or possibly she was allergic, when most people aren't?

(It's my personal hypothesis that people who claim that they don't get bitten by mosquitoes, just don't have a reaction to the bites and thus don't notice.)

[PerditaPickle]

(It's my personal hypothesis that people who claim that they don't get bitten by mosquitoes, just don't have a reaction to the bites and thus don't notice.)

Hm, I don't know - I've definitely been bitten by mosquitos and had an itchy reaction from time time, but I also definitely seem to get bitten way less than my husband does.  But maybe I only get the itchy reaction once in a while, whereas he reacts this way to every bite?

I kind of hope your theory is wrong, though, 'cause mosquitoes are really icky! 

[Noctua]

Hm, I don't know - I've definitely been bitten by mosquitos and had an itchy reaction from time time, but I also definitely seem to get bitten way less than my husband does.  But maybe I only get the itchy reaction once in a while, whereas he reacts this way to every bite?

I kind of hope your theory is wrong, though, 'cause mosquitoes are really icky! 

Could be both. They've done studies and have found that mosquitoes can smell blood types and have a preference (O is their favorite, AB their least) and so will bite people of certain blood types more than others if the choice is presented. There are also people (like myself) who just don't react to mosquito bites as severely- I can be out in my garden and see them lined up on my arm but have no reaction later on. I'll have maybe one or two bites a year that make me itch. My husband, on the other hand, is blood type O and has a lot of issues with eczema and the like so mosquito season for him is awful.

As for the ladybugs- there are actually two kinds of ladybugs around these days, the native ladybug and the imported Asian ladybird. They're hard to tell apart at a glance (slightly different arrangement of the white markings on the head is all) but while the native ones are docile and unobtrusive the Asian ones are mean buggers who will bite unprovoked and try to come into your house in the winter.

[SunflowerP]

Could be both. They've done studies and have found that mosquitoes can smell blood types and have a preference (O is their favorite, AB their least) and so will bite people of certain blood types more than others if the choice is presented. There are also people (like myself) who just don't react to mosquito bites as severely- I can be out in my garden and see them lined up on my arm but have no reaction later on. I'll have maybe one or two bites a year that make me itch. My husband, on the other hand, is blood type O and has a lot of issues with eczema and the like so mosquito season for him is awful.

As for the ladybugs- there are actually two kinds of ladybugs around these days, the native ladybug and the imported Asian ladybird. They're hard to tell apart at a glance (slightly different arrangement of the white markings on the head is all) but while the native ones are docile and unobtrusive the Asian ones are mean buggers who will bite unprovoked and try to come into your house in the winter.

Sort of - there are many kinds of ladybugs (all, properly speaking 'ladybird beetles'; none are true bugs - but that's entomological nitpicking) in North America now, some native, some imported from Asia, and some that originate in Europe. See here, and other pages of the Lost Ladybug Project site, for more info. (Not disagreeing with you here so much as adding info.)

I'm not sure about whether Asian ladybugs, collectively, being more aggressive than NA natives collectively (the LLP site doesn't say either way, AFAICT), but the LLP confirms what you said about them liking to come into houses in winter.

(The Lost Ladybug Project is another 'citizen science' project, such as I referred to in this post just a few weeks ago.)

Sunflower