This summer I've been finding a bunch of ladybugs, EVERYWHERE. One day while I was checking the nesting box for eggs, I spotted a newly emerged ladybug in the netting nearby. But when I got a closer look, I discovered that this ladybug was peculiarly colored. She wasn't the usual: bright red or orange lady bug with black dots all over. This ladybug was a dark tan color with a multiple black dots but each black dot was surrounded by a circle of white! Now I've seen an all black lady bug with white spots before at the beach (or maybe it was the other way around...it was a long time ago...), but not this kind. It was the first time I had found such a ladybug, and upon further research, I found that she was an
Eye-spotted Lady Beetle (or bug). The black dots enclosed by the white circles were supposed to be copying a predators "eyes", and make a bird or another predator less willing to eat it.
One wing was missing for some reason, but it looked like it had been ripped off (maybe accidentally as she was getting out of its pupa). I observed her in awe, then set the pretty little lady on a newly planted apple tree. I checked back everyday, and she was still there and thriving, although on the fourth day she was no longer on the tree.
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| Happily lazing away. |
But, a few days later I found a ladybug larva, which turned into a pupa the next day. Surprisingly it was white! I suspected it would be another Eye-spotted Ladybug since it was near where I found the first lady beetle.
I also found another white pupa yesterday when feeding the chickens a plant of some sort with a thick stalk. The flock loved it, but it took me a while to see the pupa, luckily it was not pecked by the curiosity of the chickens. Off to the insect jar they go...
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| Here in this picture, the larva has just turned into a pupa. It was still soft, and I found that after it hardened, it was all white with black markings. |
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| The white pupa I found on the plant stalk. This is a good example of an already hardened pupa, it kind of looks like it has a face to me (reminds me of a Capuchin monkey). |
Afterwards, I fed the chickens the tender plant stalk (which I brought inside when I removed the pupa) they were craving.
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| The BIG plant stalk. (You can see the chickens pacing impatiently in the background) |
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| Who will take a bite first? |
In the end the white pupa ended up turning into another Eye-spotted Ladybug which I later released when her shell dried.
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| Having only emerged a few minutes ago, the ladybug's spots quickly become more and more visible. |
