The Asian Lady Beetle

The Lady Asian Beetle is also called the Japanese lady beetle and Halloween lady beetle. Its scientific name is Harmonia axyridis. These quarter-inch beetles belong to the Coccindlidae family of the Insecta class.

Their forewings range in color from yellow, orange, red to deep orange-red and pale yellow-orange. Their can have either many black dots (but no more than twenty), or none at all and their heads are usually yellow or cream colored with a black mask of some sort.

Native to Asia, the Asian lady beetle hibernated in cliff cracks and ate small soft-bodied insects and aphids. The first attempt to introduce them to the United States was in 1916, as a way to control the insects in trees. This attempt failed. Other failed attempts were made between 1960 and 1981, but the Asian lady beetle could never be established.

In 1988, the first established group of Asian lady beetles was found in Louisiana, near the port of New Orleans. Reports claimed that a freighter in the port had accidentally reintroduced the beetle into the United States.

The population of the lady beetle as continued to grow and they have established themselves throughout the Northeast and into a few western states.

Asian lady beetles are great for controlling the aphids and insects that bother trees and crops such as pecan trees, cotton, wheat, tobacco, roses, shrubs and more. Even though they are helpful and reduce the need for pesticides, they can be very bothersome.

Lady beetles look for shelter for the winter months in cracks, holes, crevices, wherever they can be warm. Around and in homes seem to suit them just fine. It is not uncommon for hundreds of thousands of Asian lady beetles to group together in large cracks, spaces in walls, behind boards or in attics.

Homeowners quickly learn the easiest thing to do is fill cracks around doors, windows, pipes and other opening. When stressed the Asian lady beetle secrets an orange substance. Although it is not harmful, the substance stains, leaving spots on walls, furniture and carpet.