Re: Informal survey: ladybug oddities?
- Subject: Re: Informal survey: ladybug oddities?
- From: B* B*
- Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 23:16:53 -0500 (CDT)
Hello Kathy!
We have these ladybugs in plenty, or something
very like them, in Georgia. I thought I had heard
they were introduced, originally into FL, to control
aphids in pecan groves; though that makes sense if
they go after them on hardwoods generally. I
understand they are since spreading north and becoming
more abundant. They gather and look for shelter in the
fall where they spend the winter. I certainly have
found clumps of them in the cold weather in sheds,
woodpiles and other sheltered spots, so I guess they
could get into a not-well-sealed cabin or house. And
they do bite at the least disturbance.
Bob Burns
--- Kathy Kempf <wont_read101@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I am taking part in our local university's study
> about Multicolored Asian
> Lady Beetles. Anybody else in the country/world
> notice ladybugs acting odd
> in the fall? They were released in the midwest
> several times in the past
> couple of decades to try to help control aphids in
> hardwood forests.
> Trouble is, they swarm and try to find places to
> hibernate. Since they
> can't find cliffs as in their native habitat, they
> are infesting people's
> houses by the hundreds or thousands or tens of
> thousands here in the
> American midwest. I know they have penetrated into
> central Indiana, but not
> yet into western New York (Buffalo area).
>
> They also bite, and increasing numbers of people are
> having allergic
> reactions.
>
> These look very similar to native American ladybugs;
> they are colored from
> dark to light orange, with varying numbers of black
> spots.
>
> For more information, check out the Ohio State
> University IPM site at
> www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ipm/
>
> I am not a researcher with this group, just a
> participant.
>
>
>
>
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