Asian Ladybug - Harmonia axyridis

The warm weather continued in Toronto...at least for a little bit. However now, it looks like the colder weather and grey skies may be here to stay. In any case, the insects will keep coming with new pictures and hopefully some interesting behaviors. Previously, the warmer autumn weather brought finds of various beautiful finds sunning themselves upon urban architecture and structures. First it was a gathering of female Autumn Meadowhawks, followed by an uncommon Brown Lacewing catching some rays on a metal gate. For today's post, this week - which had a day which was warmer than expected - bringing us these little red-orange jewels crawling about on the illuminated side of a building. As is apparent, this gaggle of Ladybugs were out and about in order to soak in the sun's warmth, and possibly to mingle with each other given how many of them gathered. While only a few particular individuals were photographed up close, there were at least 20 individuals scampering about on the side of this building here, and it's likely that there were many more on the building's upper levels and in the near vicinity. Picture 5 alone highlights 5 Ladybugs relatively close to each other; any further zoomed out and they would have appeared as glossy red dots. For today's insects, they are actually a (relatively) common sight in Toronto in such large numbers around this time. This blog has even shared this sighting before alongside a noticeable swarm of Boxelder Bugs as October entered its final week for the year.

Since these Ladybugs are so prevalent towards the end of October, they are sometimes referred to as "Halloween Ladybugs", and I'll bet that their shell's coloration only adds to that reputation. Do note that this Beetle specie - as mentioned before on this blog - can be extremely variable in terms of its appearance. As such, for a successful identification while they're active, look at the markings on their head and pronotum (an 'M' or 'W' pattern on the latter). While nice to see them here for a few days, it was only a matter of time before the cool winds returned and scattered them. When this occurs, the Asian Ladybirds of Toronto will take shelter in natural or man-made crevices to wait out the winter. They also like to stumble into the warmth of homes, so while harmless, it can be a bit of a nuisance if they fly around late at night and collide with the ceiling. No worries of that out here, of course. Just a beautiful day to enjoy with sunlight soaking into their shells. Finally, not to burst any bubbles, note that some individuals here have many spots on their shells and some have only a few or none. This is an indication of individual variability, and not age. Although it would be most impressive to see a typically depicted Asian Ladybug live for 18+ years (1 year for each wingcase spot) and gain a new spot with each year, the reality is a lot less dramatic. That said, it's still interesting to observe differences in Ladybug shell patterns and the sheer scale of their variability. Particularly for this specie which can often be mistaken for many other Ladybug species if one is a bit too hasty.

(my pics from a discord screenshot)

Asian Ladybug - Harmonia Axyridis - larva

I’ve been beating around the bush long enough with these young insects, so as promised in an earlier post that featured an active pupa, I’m excited to have a showcase on the beginnings of the Asian Ladybug’s life cycle. Well, beginning after hatching anyways, as the egg comes first, being placed somewhere by an adult female Ladybug. Ideal locations include plants that will be full of soft-bodied insects such Aphids or small Caterpillars. Ideally, this would be perfect on other plants not frequented by other adult Ladybugs so as to prevent stretching of resources and/or adults eating the unhatched eggs! Yikes! Though they hatch as spiked, dark, elongated beasties, they need to feed on other insects such as the adults do. The adults are best equipped to the wild world though due to their armor, wings and chemical defenses, so the Ladybug Larvae need to trend somewhat lightly and not spend too much time exposed on the greenery. However, we they can press their own advantages when they find an Aphid aggregation and go to town, consuming them till full! Naturally this makes Ladybug Larvae just as useful to a forest ecosystem (or a garden one) as the adults. 

As they eat wave after wave of Aphid, the larva molts, becoming larger and more defined as it enters its next instar. Scale may be difficult to judge, but on average the Ladybug larvae (across all species) have “grubs” that may start small, but become larger in size than the adults by their last 1-2 instars. This isn’t uncommon for Beetles as a whole: in their pupation they tend to trade size for wings, armor, genitalia and accessory features (such as horns). That’s all quite fair, but until then it’s a soft body, all the insects that can be eaten within walking distance and a bumpy, spiky abdomen as a deterrent. Pay close attention to that spiked rear as each specie of Ladybug Larva can be differentiated using the patterning as a big clue. Case in point, the Asian Ladybug Larva features 2 streaks of orange running along their back, followed by particular orange horizontal striping: 1 stripe close to the thorax and 2 at the end of their abdominal streaks. The streaks do a lovely job of highlighting their spikes, which others may construe as a warning, perhaps? Look for the patterned abdomens if you plan on searching for these larvae. The window to do so is very wide, with high peaks in the summer and around Halloween. To illustrate this, note the dates of when these larvae where found below.

Ladybug!

Asian ladybug!