Aliases

Ladybird beetles, fungus feeding beetles, coccinellids

Physical Features

Adults
Circular to oval beetles. Predacious ladybugs range from red to orange to black with spots. Fungus feeding beetles are very small with mottled black and cream colors much like a Holstein cow.
Larvae
Ladybug larvae look like tiny alligators with six legs. Many times they are colored with black or dark purple and white/ yellow or orange stripes.

Beneficial Features

Predacious ladybugs are on the lookout and ready to apprehend any soft-bodied insect or egg that can fit into their mouths. Both adults and immature ladybugs have aphids, scales, adelgids, insect eggs, spider mites, and small caterpillars on their caseload. These beetles are sharp-shooting aphid feeders; in a lifetime, one may take care of more than a thousand aphids! Fungus feeding ladybugs are also helpful, ransacking powdery mildew hangouts.

Recruitment

• When they’re not wearing their badge, ladybugs like to visit flowery drinking holes where they can slam back swigs of nectar. So keep them happy in your landscape by adding blooming plants.
• Ladybugs are often hot on the trail of aphids, so they’ll
  stick around to stakeout honeydew covered areas.
  
• Ladybugs are tough as nails, but can be annihilated by some pesticides. Think twice before applying them; you might be killing the good guys along with the bad.

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