Lady Bug Lifecycle
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Lady Bug, Lady Bird, or Lady Beetle Whatever You Call Them, They Are Beneficial Insects |
Ladybugs eat aphids and are especially of interest to gardeners who plant milkweed. The bad news is that they don't do a fantastic job of ridding a garden of aphids. Butterfly gardeners are expecially intersted in lady bugs to rid their gardens of yellow milkweed aphids. Lady bugs are fantastic little creatures and fun to find in a garden while they quietly earn their keep by eating aphids, one by one.
 Ladybug with a droplet of rain |
 Ladybug eggs |
 A ladybug nymph is small |
An adult ladybug lays her eggs near a food source; aphids. The nymphs hatch, resembling small alligators. Ladybug nymphs are black and orange. Eating aphids, nymphs are friends of gardeners. As nymphs grow, they must molt, the same as caterpillars.
 A ladybug nymph starts to molt |
 The nymph continues to climb out of its old skin |
 A nymph eats a milkweed aphid |
 Lady bug pupa   |
The nymph changes into a pupa. From the pupa, the adult lady bug emerges. Adult ladybugs eat aphids of all kinds. Yellow milkweed aphids are the same as yellow oleander aphids. These ladybugs are eating milkweed/oleander aphids on milkweed.
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 Two ladybugs fight over an aphid |
 Milkweed aphids are the same as oleander aphids |
Watch a closeup video of a ladybug eating a yellow milkweed aphid.