Subject: Little Metallic bug from Maui
Location: Maui, HI
May 9, 2013 2:57 am
I was wondering if this were some sort of ladybug or beetle?
Signature: Nicole B
Steel Blue Lady Beetle
Dear Nicole,
We believe this is a Steel Blue Lady Beetle, Halmus chalybeus, based on the Insects of Hawaii website.
Subject: interesting insect – don’t know where to start looking
Location: Madera County, CA
May 5, 2013 4:00 pm
Dear Bugman,
I come to you again with an interesting insect. I took this picture this morning. The insect in question spent some time working over this nascent bloom (heartleaf arnica of some sort), making sure to visit every nook, cranny and drop of dew or nectar or whatever the drops were.
We live in Madera County, CA in oak savanna terrain. The photo was taken about 100 yards away from the Chowchilla River.
I would be greatly appreciative if you could identify this insect.
Thanks for your great web site!
Signature: Megan Ralph
Lady Beetle Larva
lady beetle (ladybug) larva
Thank you! No wonder I liked it so much 
We are now preparing a longer response because we decided to post your submission.
Lady Beetle Larva
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Larva
Invasive Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Larva eats Native Lady Beetle Larva
Squash Lady Beetle Larva
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle: Imago, molting Larva, and Larva eating Aphid
Subject: What is this?
Location: Northern California
April 29, 2013 10:51 pm
Do you have any idea what kind of bug this is? it is all over my pride of madeira plant. Thanks.
Signature: Steve
Lady Beetle Pupa
Dear Steve,
All insects undergo metamorphosis, and those that undergo complete metamorphosis like butterflies and beetles often have immature forms that look nothing like the adult insect. This is the pupa of a Lady Beetle or Ladybug. Ladybug is a common name not recognized by scientists since they are actually beetles. The larva of a Lady Beetle is often compared to a small alligator.
Lady Beetle Pupa
Pupa and Larva of a Multicolored Asian ALady Beetle
15 Spotted Lady Beetle Larva and Pupa
Asian Multicolored Lady Beetle
Subject: What is this bug!?
Location: Dallas Texas or Wichita Kansas
April 10, 2013 11:57 am
I live in Dallas Texas. I recently traveled to Kansas. When I got back home, the next day I put on a sweater that i took to Kansas. This later crawled down my arm. I’m not sure if it was from Kansas or Texas. Help!?
Signature: Not a bug guy
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Larva
immature lady beetle or ladybug
Ed. Note: April 13, 2013
We have a small staff and we haven’t the time to post or even answer all the mail we receive on busy days. Sometimes we just provide a quick response that is not posted. Sometimes folks like “Not a bug guy” challenge our response, prompting us to take additional action.
Are you sure? It does not look like one at all.
Dear Not a bug guy,
By your own admission, you are “Not a bug guy” and we have been responding to questions about insects on the internet since 1999. We have always been honest with our readership and we have frequently admitted that we are artists who do not have a background in science, nor more specifically in entomology, but we have learned a thing or two over the years. We also understand that there is an ever increasing proliferation of sketchy and otherwise unreliable information on the internet and we also know that we are wrong from time to time, but we do make corrections to our postings when errors are brought to our attention in an effort to be as accurate as possible. With that said, we provided you with a brief response because we do not have the time to answer every query we receive with a lengthy post complete with other internet citations. Since you seem to be a Doubting Thomas as well as being “Not a bug guy” and since you preferred to request additional feedback from us rather than checking up on the information we provided, we are happy to offer you some clarification to our original response. Yes, we are sure. We realize that this Lady Beetle Larva does not resemble the adult, but nor does the Luna Moth Caterpillar resemble the ethereal Luna Moth. Insects undergo metamorphosis, meaning that they often change forms as they grow and mature. If you are still doubting that you submitted a photo of a Lady Beetle Larva, here is a photo from BugGuide of a Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Larva.
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Larva
Invasive Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Larva eats Native Lady Beetle Larva
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle: Imago, molting Larva, and Larva eating Aphid
Larval Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle
Subject: What’s this bug?
Location: Lompoc, California
April 12, 2013 4:11 pm
Now that it is Spring all the lady bugs are out but I have also noticed another bug that is among all the lady bugs. Im not sure what they are and it’s really driving me crazy. Can you please help me out? Im having a hard time finding it out. Thank you.
Signature: Summer
Lady Beetle Pupa
Dear Summer,
The reason you are seeing this stationary creature among the Lady Bugs is that this is the pupa of a Lady Beetle, the more correct common name for a Lady Bug.
Ok that’s wht they are always with the lady bugs. Thank you so much
SUMMER JASMINE OLIVERA
*~QUEEN SJO~*
15 Spotted Lady Beetle Larva and Pupa
Pupa and Larva of a Multicolored Asian ALady Beetle
Spotted Lady Beetle
Three Banded Lady Beetle
Subject: It’s Raining Lady Bug Larvae!
Location: Montecito Hts/Rose Hill, CA
April 8, 2013 4:57 pm
Dear Daniel,
As I am sure you are sharing in this windstorm over the hill in Mt. Washington I thought I’d share what it has shaken out of the Black Walnut trees over here on Rose Hill.
I believe them to be Seven-spotted Lady Beetle (according to Bug Guide) http://bugguide.net/node/view/640308 and they are EVERYWHERE by the hundreds.
These are the few I started picking up quickly as I thought my chickens would ravage them but I soon realized they were not interested. Maybe they already ate their fill(?) or they don’t like the taste is what I am thinking.
In any event, I thought I’d share what the wind blew down – and yes, these individuals were relocated to the chicken free zone just in case.
Kind Regards
Signature: joAnn
Lady Beetle Larvae rain down!!!
Hi joAnn,
Alas, we were away from our home office and working in Hollywood during the bulk of the storm where the only thing raining down seemed to be palm fronds. These do look like Seven Spotted Lady Beetle Larvae and we are curious why there were so many in the black walnuts. We did find some Scale Insects on one of our own black walnut trees some time back, and we wonder if they might be feeding on scale. Thanks for submitting this fascinating account and your photos. We are tagging you as a Bug Humanitarian as well. We also learned that our Mount Washington Weather Station anemometer failed to report wind speeds recently and that is how we knew we had a record 101 MPH wind blast on our hill in December 2011.
Seven Spotted Lady Beetle Larvae
Hi Daniel,
Thank you for the email. I hadn’t read my Twitter feed so I didn’t know there was a response.
As far as what they are feeding on – I can say with certainty that my trees are full of green aphids. I had noticed last week that every time I went under my trees a few would manage to fall on me. Then again, this year I seem to have exponential numbers of everything seeing as it’s also been raining wooly bears.
I too have scale insects on one particular succulent (cotton scale) and in hopes that these lady bug larvae would lend a hand I released the lot of them there. No luck. They moved on.
I found more this evening but not in such great numbers as yesterday.
I don’t think the winds made it anywhere near what they were in 2011 – wow, 101MPH?? Yikes!
Best,
joAnn
Lady Beetle Larva
Dusky Lady Beetle Larvae feeding on Aphids
Asian Multicolored Lady Beetle
Twice Stabbed Lady Beetles, adults and larvae, from Japan
Subject: Orange bug with black spots? Related to a different black bug with orange spots?
Location: Irvine, CA
December 8, 2012 1:03 pm
I recently moved in to a high rise apartment in Irvine, CA, and the other day I started seeing these two bugs. They don’t seem to move and I’ve only seen them in the one spot outside, I. A wall of a rock bed growing bamboo. What is it???
Signature: Kali
Pupa of a Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle
Dear Kali,
This is the pupa of a Lady Beetle. Insects that undergo metamorphosis have two active stages, the larva and the imago or adult, and two inactive stages, the egg and the pupa. When the weather conditions are right and the proper amount of time has elapsed, this pupa will metamorphose into an adult Lady Beetle or Ladybug. This appears to be the pupa of a Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle, Harmonia axyridis, an introduced species, and you can compare your image to the photos posted to BugGuide. Your third photo (the second in our posting) is the larva of the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle.
Larva of a Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Larva
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle: Imago, molting Larva, and Larva eating Aphid
Invasive Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Larva eats Native Lady Beetle Larva
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Laying Eggs
Subject: What Am I?
Location: Minnetonka, MN
December 6, 2012 2:25 pm
Found this on a cattail reed in a pond in Minnesota, near Minneapolis.
Signature: Leia
Lady Beetle Larva
Hi Leia,
We took incredible creative license in cropping your photograph of a Lady Beetle larva to best format it for our website.
Invasive Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle Larva eats Native Lady Beetle Larva
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle: Imago, molting Larva, and Larva eating Aphid
Lady Beetle Larva
Lady Beetle Larva
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