Lady Beetle Sex

(Must be blog sweeps week…)

The multicolored Asian lady beetle, or lady bug, Harmonia axyridis. An introduced species, these are highly variable in terms of color and number of spots. Note the W or M (depending on your point of view) shape on the pronotum; most of this species seems to have these. They seem to be all over now, after an introduction in the late 1970s or early 1980s. Native lady beetles are not doing as well, unfortunately; could there be a connection? Check out the Lost Lady Bug Project for ways to help.

On Sunday, they were going at it on the mugwort out at Dead Horse Bay.

Another stage of their life can be witnessed in my earlier post about the emergence of an adult lady beetle.