The seven-spotted lady beetle
After years of seeing orange lady bugs (I think I’m supposed to call them Lady Beetles), which I learned were an Asian species, I was out in the garden watering plants when I saw a bright red, black-spotted lady bug. I froze, afraid of shooing it away. I think it’s been about 10 years since I’ve seen on of these, and it was like seeing a friend I didn’t know I’d lost.
I looked up ladybugs online, hoping to learn what had happened to my red-shelled friend. But to my surprise, I learned that the iconic beetle is the seven-spotted lady beetle, a species introduced from Europe in the 1970s to control aphids. That childhood friend was not a native insect, not a part of the landscape as I had thought! For a picture of the lady beetle native to Ontario, the pink-coloured Spotted Lady Beetle, click to see the explanation from the University of Guelph.
Apparently all forms of lady beetles are helpful in controlling aphids, and also feed on dandelion pollen. They do not munch garden plants.
Are there insects you like to have in your garden? Are there others you’re trying to control?
