Ladybug Poisonous Blood and Eternal Hunger (8 photos)

For aphids, scale insects, and spider mites, ladybugs are round, spotted harbingers of doom, voracious and merciless monsters. Just one beetle is enough to destroy an entire colony, as it can consume up to a hundred insects a day!







When you see a buffet for the first time in your life and now you're planning to gorge yourself to the point of losing your appetite.

And even the ant's guards can't defeat it. Its hard elytra protect almost its entire body, and its jaws are strong enough to bite off an ant's leg. Only the coordinated work of several dozen ants can drive a ladybug away from a swarm of aphids. For a while.





— "Sir, it's time for you to go home!" — "But can I at least finish my meal?"



Damn, what should we do with him? He's moving like a tank!

And if a female ladybug stumbles upon a defenseless colony of plant pests, she won't eat them, not at all. She'll do something far worse – she'll lay eggs nearby. And in a week or two, several dozen larvae will hatch from them, each more voracious than an adult beetle.



Yes, that's right. They're not a separate group of animals, but simply the offspring of ladybugs.

The aphid colony will be completely destroyed within a few days, after which the larvae will crawl up the tree in search of new colonies. And if they don't find any, they'll turn to any other small insects. After all, a ladybug larva isn't just any caterpillar. It's a nimble and active predator, with well-developed jaws that can handle even small spiders!



The life cycle of the seven-spotted ladybug. This is the one you see most often in your gardens.

And the ladybug itself, it seems, is the most unpleasant prey in the world. Not only are these insects strong, well-protected, and have a painful bite, they're also venomous! Ladybug hemolymph isn't just toxic; it's a potent mixture of over 50 poisons, each requiring its own antidote. The star performer in this symphony of poison is cantharidin, a serious vesicant. It causes a severe burning sensation when it comes into contact with mucous membranes, and itching and blisters when it comes into contact with skin. So, it would seem that to be poisoned by a ladybug, you'd have to at least chew on it. But here, too, the insects have foreseen everything. Sensing danger, the beetle breaks its knee joints to let its disgustingly bitter (thanks to toxic alkaloids) and skin-burning blood gush out. After all, the ladybug knows that a little bleeding is better than death.



Go ahead, try eating me! Your face will shrink with bitterness!

Ladybugs are so good at evading predators that they have imitators all over the world. Beetles from South America, cockroaches from the Philippines, and some Japanese spiders disguise themselves as ladybugs to avoid the attention of dangerous predators, even though they lack the toxicity. But predators hate ladybugs so much that their reputation extends even to their imitators!



Spiders? I don't know any spiders. It's just me, a highly poisonous ladybug!

There's no point in people being afraid of ladybugs. The poison only penetrates thick human skin in large quantities or if the skin is already sensitive. But we definitely don't advise our readers to eat ladybugs; they can cause severe poisoning. And why eat them when you can ask for bread?