The Backyard Jungle:

Image Gallery Ladybird beetles generally lay their eggs near aphids or other prey. PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR

Here's the seventh in a series of articles that will help you tell friend from foe in your garden.

Part VII, Ladybird Beetles

By Ron West

Few gardeners fail to recognize the friendly ladybird beetle, also known as the ladybug. This fierce little predator is one of nature's prime defenses against many garden pests, especially aphids. The moniker ladybug refers to Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, and was gratefully bestowed upon this beetle in the Middle Ages by farmers who realized the insect's value in ridding their grapevines of pests. But though the ladybird's actions have been extolled for centuries, few people really understand the biology of this tiny benefactor ... and fewer still can discern the ladybug's immature forms.

Of the hundreds of species of ladybird beetles (family Coccinellidae), the most widespread and familiar is the convergent ladybird beetle, Hippodamia convergens, which is pictured here. The brilliant red color of this and similar species is not intended to dazzle human retinas but serves as a warning to predators, for the body fluids of these beetles are quite distasteful. Red, orange, and yellow species are most prevalent, but you might run across black, tan, or multicolored ladybirds, as well.

Like most insects that undergo complete metamorphosis, the ladybug begins its life as an egg. The adult female lays clusters of these minute, bright yellow gems in crevices of tree bark or on the undersides of protected leaves where there's a sufficient number of prey to support the larvae. From each egg emerges a tapered larva that's typically charcoal gray with white, orange, or red markings and that bears a certain resemblance to a chubby miniature alligator.

Though the adult ladybirds are also predators, it's the immature larvae that take the largest toll on garden pests. Ravenous in appetite, a larva may consume as many as 40 aphids in a single hour! Other soft-bodied creatures are also on its menu, including mealy bugs , immature scale insects, young whiteflies, small caterpillars, and mites. The larva—which ranges in size from 1/16" to 1/4", depending on its maturity—completes its growth in about 20 days, at which point it fastens itself to a leaf or other object, hangs its head downward, and enters the pupal stage, forming a teardrop-shaped cocoon in which the transformation into an adult beetle takes place.