Are Ladybugs Beneficial or Pests? A Clear Guide to Telling Them Apart

Ladybugs are small insects with a body shape ranging from short oval to round, an arched back, and red, black or yellow spots on their backs. They generally appear on plants. So, are ladybugs beneficial or pests? Here is an introduction.

1. Are ladybugs beneficial or pests?

Ladybugs include both beneficial species and pest species. There are many kinds of ladybugs, with more than 5,000 species worldwide and 530 species recorded in China. According to their feeding habits, ladybugs can be divided into carnivorous, herbivorous and fungivorous types. Among them, carnivorous ladybugs feed on aphids, herbivorous ladybugs feed on the leaves of crops, and fungivorous ladybugs feed on powdery mildew fungi and the like. It can be seen that carnivorous and fungivorous ladybugs are beneficial insects, while herbivorous ladybugs are pests.

2. What kinds of ladybugs are there?

Ladybugs are mainly divided into three categories, namely carnivorous, herbivorous and fungivorous.

1. Carnivorous ladybugs: there are the seven-spot ladybug, harlequin ladybug, six-spotted ladybug, large tortoise-shell ladybug, tortoise-shell ladybug, large shoulder-spotted ladybug, black-margined red ladybug, vedalia ladybug and so on. Among them, the seven-spot ladybug lives on aphids and spider mites, the six-spotted ladybug lives on aphids, the large tortoise-shell ladybug preys on the larvae of the walnut leaf beetle, and the large shoulder-spotted ladybug preys on scale insects.

2. Herbivorous ladybugs: there are the ten-spotted ladybug, the 28-spotted eggplant ladybug, the potato ladybug, Bowring's split-hip ladybug, the saw-toothed split-hip ladybug and so on. Among them, the ten-spotted ladybug mainly feeds on the leaves of grapes, wild grapes and Cayratia japonica and other plants, the 28-spotted eggplant ladybug mainly damages the leaves of solanaceous plants and cucurbit crops, and Bowring's split-hip ladybug feeds on the leaves of cucurbitaceous plants.

3. Fungivorous ladybugs: there are the fungus-eating ladybug (Illeis koebelei), the twelve-spotted brown fungus ladybug and so on, and they all live on powdery mildew fungi and the like.

Summary: Ladybugs include both beneficial species and pest species. Among them, carnivorous ladybugs such as the seven-spot ladybug, harlequin ladybug and six-spotted ladybug are beneficial insects, herbivorous ladybugs such as the 28-spotted eggplant ladybug, potato ladybug and Bowring's split-hip ladybug are pests, and fungivorous ladybugs such as the fungus-eating ladybug (Illeis koebelei) and the twelve-spotted brown fungus ladybug are beneficial insects.