Those beautiful and delicate little bugs that you see around this time of year. The typical ladybug is a beetle that has a shell that is predominantly red with black spots. Do you know that I had one of these light on my hand when I was at recess in grammar school, and I took it in the classroom with me where it stayed all afternoon? I let it go when school was out, and I've always been very careful never to harm a ladybug since. They eat aphids, you know? (A fact for you rose lovers.)

There's also another type which can infest your house for a couple of weeks. The Asian ladybug is more prone to be the source of the infestation. It usually looks like a typical ladybug except it will have a burnt-orange shell instead of a red one. They have a chemical in them which makes them smell and taste bad to birds, but the smell is released when the bug is under some form of attack -- or if the bug is crushed. In isolated cases, people who have tried to rid themselves of the insects by crushing large numbers of them have regretted it.

Unless your house is under attack by ladybugs, please do not harm them. I think they may be a higher life form.

The invasion began this morning. I woke up this afternoon to a strange buzzing sound. Naturally, I assumed it had been caused by flies, because my room becomes infested with them every fall and winter. I ignored them.

I proceeded sleepily down the stairs and got my usual bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. To my surprise, when I looked out the window, the air was filled with mysterious flying creatures. "Huh," I thought. "Must be wasps. I'd better stay inside today." This, of course, would not have been a very large change of plans.

Yet, when I wandered into the master bedroom, I saw a small crack below the screen and a steady line of ladybug commandos entering my house. I grabbed the duct tape and sealed the window, but it was too late. I got out the vacuum cleaner and sucked up 70 or so, but the effort was futile. They are everywhere.

I'm still not quite sure what their motives are... Judging from the vast number that are still outside, they may need a base for their world domination scheme. If a lot of nodes about an invasion of Eastern Europe and a mind control plan start appearing under my name, I suggest you invest in some high-quality screens.

Other ladybird facts :

- The name originates from the Middle Ages, when the beetle was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and called the "Beetle of Our Lady"

- Instead of dying when it gets cold, they hiberate during the winter

- However, they don't escape death so easily when it comes to parasitic wasps, as they lay their eggs in the live adult and eat their way out (accounting for 50% of all ladybird deaths). Nice.

- Female ladybirds lay between 50-300 eggs in their lifetime

- The average adult eats over 5000 aphids, and the womenfolk eat 3-10 aphids for every egg she lays (obviously laying eggs is a strenuous activity...)

- A gallon of ladybirds (approx 72,000, although I don't know who counted them...) will set you back around $72 from your local ladybird dealer

NB - Not to be confused with ladyboys, which are a different subject altogether.

What if Mr. Do! and Ms. Pac-Man got together and had a baby? If they did, then the result would probably be something like Ladybug (the 1981 maze game from Universal).

The first time I played this arcade game was at an amusement industry auction in the fall of 2000. This was one of several titles that I did not think were particularly valuable, but still ended up going way out of my price range (the others were Bagman and Operation Wolf). The Ms. Pac-Man/Mr. Do! combination was the first thing to come to mind when I played this game. I later learned that this title predated both games, although it was made by the same manufacturer as Mr. Do!.

In Ladybug you guide a bug through a Pac-Man style maze, eating dots, and avoiding monsters. Collect letters to spell EXTRA for a bonus life (just like in Mr. Do!), and SPECIAL for a extra credit. The maze has rotating doors which are just enough to give the game a slightly different feel than the Pac-Man series.

A proper Ladybug arcade machine will be in a dedicated cabinet (specifically one of the ultra-curvy early Universal ones, Mr. Do!, and many others used this same cabinet). Most games from Universal had no specific sideart, just a painted "Universal" logo, and a couple of colored stripes. This makes it possible to actually convert one Universal title into another one, without any loss in value. The controls are a simple 4-Way joystick mounted in the center of the control panel. Finally, this game uses a standard resolution monitor mounted vertically.

This is not the best game ever made, but it is one of those games you can play over and over again. This would be a good choice for your gameroom (probably at less than half the cost of a Ms. Pac-Man). If you get bored of it, then you can simply swap in the PBCs to another Universal game from the same era, and have yourself a whole new game.

I currently own this game in PCB form, which means I have the circuit board that actually contains the game, but I don't have the machine to put it in.

The life cycle of a ladybug:

Unlike their favorite food source - aphids (whose young are nymphs and look much like the adult only smaller and who reproduce both asexually and sexually), lady bugs undergo metamorphosis. They reproduce sexually, 200m- 500 yellow eggs are laid in clusters in areas of high aphid (or scale or spider mites)infestation. The larvae first hatch from the eggs mostly black and oval shaped. As they grow they take on a fierce appearance that some have likened to tiny alligators except they have 6 legs. I think they look like that thing on the original Star Trek that invaded Sulu's ear, ugh! While they don't have the cute, anthropomorphic appeal of the adult ladybug, the ugly larvae are equally harmless to all but their small insect prey. The larvae are also voracious predators. As they grow and molt (4 molts in all) they take on stripes resembling the wing color of their parents, so they wind up black and yellow, red or orange - depending on type. Little empty ladybug larvae skins will be left strung throughout the plant after each molt.

This spring's little drama of aphid infestation on my Sweet Annie yielded weeks worth of live food for my aquarium fish but as soon as the ladybug larvae emerged aphids were in short supply. These guys can really eat!

The final phase is that of pupation. The larvae pupate briefly (cocoon phase when metamorphosis occurs) in summer and then the adult lady bug emerges. 2 to 3 generations can reproduce in one summer. After the adult ladybug emerges s/he will fly off in search of a new "aphid plant" with a less depleted food supply to start the process all over again.

The adult will hibernate over the winter, sometimes in mass, preferably on a vertical surface. This includes houses (exterior siding or at times interior walls). Expect this phenomena in the fall and prepare for it by sealing cracks with caulk and repairing window screens. Attic vents and chimneys should be covered #20 or smaller screen mesh. If you do get an infestation of sleepy ladybug in your home interior gently vacuum or sweep the little guys up and move them to a more appropriate site. Look for someplace sheltered (rock or wood piles are good; they came indoors for a reason. Don't crush them, it's mean and besides they stink and stain when crushed. They also taste bad, just in case you have any bird like predilections.

Lady bug lady bug
fly away home
your house is on fire
and your children may burn.

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old nursery rhyme, anonymous

La"dy*bug` (?), n. Zool.

Same as Ladybird.

 

© Webster 1913.