What’s are these bugs? All were found on Fort Bragg, NC My daughter and I are creating a site where we are doing an online bug collection. I have tried many sources to identify these bugs to no avail. Do you know what any of these are?
Lynette
Hi Lynette,
Congratulations on your site. This is the pupa of a Ladybird Beetle, commonly known as a Ladybug, though they are really beetles. There is an interesting theory about the meaning of the children’s song, according to Lutz. He writes “Many of us have quoted: ‘Lady-bird, lady-bird! Fly away home. Your house is on fire. Your children do roam.’ Some of us add: ‘Except little Nan, who sits in a pan weaving gold laces as fast as she can.’ What is it all about? Many Lady-bird (Coccinellid) larva eat Aphids and this rhyme started in the Old country, where they burn the hop vines after the harvests. These vines are usually full of aphids and coccinellid ‘children.’ A Nan who can not roam but sits in a pan weaving gold laces is … a yellow pupa.” (ed note: your pupa is of the black and red variety) “Why ‘Lady-bird’ or ‘Lady Beetles?’" continues Lutz, "That goes back still further to the Middle Ages when these beneficial insects were dedicated to the virgin and were the ‘Beetles of Our Lady.'”