Orange Ladybugs Are Harshing My Mellow...

Are toxic orange ladybugs the latest environmental threat?
August 21, 2000

Dear Straight Dope:

I was recently told that the U.S. is being overrun by toxic orange lady bugs. These lady bugs, according to my source, were imported from Asia to combat aphids and other garden pests. However, they have become a threat to human health because they give off a toxic vapor which causes asthma and they invade homes. Since hearing this I have noticed that the only ladybugs I see are orange. Where have the red ladybugs gone? Are these big orange Asian bugs taking over? Who is responsible for importing them?

— L.E. Herrick


Straight Dope's Reply - You're thinking of the Asian ladybug, Harmonia axyridis, intentionally released by the USDA in a well-intentioned but ultimately misguided attempt to add yet another "beneficial" insect to our fauna. Ironically, most of the evidence suggests that the USDA attempts at introduction only worked in the western U.S., and that the ones running rampant through most of the rest of the country were accidentally brought in, like most pests. As an aside, I appear to be the first entomologist to record this species in the western U.S., in Seattle in 1991.

Asian ladybugs have no natural enemies here, so they outcompete our native ladybugs in the wild and build up large populations rapidly. This is good insofar as it concerns their ability to control aphids, which is what they feed on. Unfortunately, it's not good that they're driving our native ladybugs to extinction. This particular species also has the annoying habit of choosing human homes as places to spend the winter. They don't give off a toxic vapor, at least not in amounts large enough to be detectable by a human nose, unless they are handled or crushed--and all ladybugs give off the exact same "toxic chemical," a foul-smelling yellow oil. The toxic effect on humans is negligible; you'd have to eat a few pounds (thousands) to get sick. But you'd notice it if you were a sparrow, fence lizard, etc. That's why ladybugs are brightly colored--predators associate the bright color with poison, so they stay away. The phenomenon of orange/black or yellow/black = toxic is common in nature and is called aposematism.

What's special about this species is the number that accumulate indoors over a large geographic area. People in parts of the western U.S. have had to put up with the native convergent ladybug (Hippodamia convergens) entering their homes in the winter for well over 200 years, but now that this new species is bothering easterners, the press gets into the act, and people start to panic. The truth is that we have been introducing new exotic species of ladybugs into the U.S., both intentionally and accidentally, for decades now, and in many parts of the country (like most of the eastern seaboard) it's almost impossible to find a native species any more. If the Asian ladybug didn't happen to invade people's homes, this new introduction would have been ignored just like every other case like it.

Consider me INVADED

OMG...

omg, omg, omg I am going to be sooo beeezy over the next sixteen weeks. I have GOT to get organized - I've got to divide my day into work, school, rest and play - and I've got to start NOW. Tonight I hit the ground running and I intend to stay ahead of the fray. Tomorrow the plan's rough draft will be developed BEFORE I end the day. The light is green, the water's boiling and I am so freakin' psyched. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this - my loud and beloved mantra until June 1st. Here we go biatches.

On My Bookshelf...

It Never Gets Any Easier Leaving Them Behind...

We drove Sach back to Syracuse today. She was not quite ready to start the intensity of learning all over again. For the first time since she started, she mentioned how far away from home four hours is. Rich and snobby have never appealed to her. Watching her walk into her dorm while we drive away is hard for me. Vooch keeps reassuring me, but I know that it's hard for him too. Square fish, fries and a diet coke helps, a little.

A Little Curry Please...

Sam's been accepted to college.

8 inches...

for the cause.

B56...

That's as close as my natural color as exists in a bottle and I'm stickin' with it, and Jen, and my side part, and my bangs, and my every-six-weeks-Tuesday-at-6pm cut, and feelin' beautiful in my bathroom mirror with no makeup on in my pj's.

And Where In The Good Book Does It Say...

On the Seventh Day she'll vacuum until she breaks every toenail on both feet; sneeze until there are no dust bunnies left, anywhere, including the side porch; catch hell from a nineteen year old who isn't nearly as cool today as she usually is; rearrange a room including a two ton piano in the middle of a playoff game wherein the house team is sucking wind; eat pigs in a blanket after being told that if it were up to her we'd all starve; drink multiple cups of high-test to combat the cramps that she no longer needs at this age but without which she'd need multiple cups of high-test to combat the lack of hormones; and, find the funds to pay the bills that should have gone out ten days ago? Rest? Psshhh

Beneath a Blue Umbrella...

a melon seller sat,
selling yellow melons,
succulent and fat.

A huge and hungry hippo
made the melon seller mad,
when he swallowed all the melons
that the melon seller had.

It used to be a whole lot easier when this was the favorite book in the house.

Knitting 101...

Insert pic of J learning to knit

Progess, Evolve...

...Develop - My word for 2010.

–verb (used with object)
1. to bring out the capabilities or possibilities of; bring to a more advanced or effective state: to develop natural resources; to develop one's musical talent.
2. to cause to grow or expand: to develop one's muscles.
3. to elaborate or expand in detail: to develop a theory.
4. to bring into being or activity; generate; evolve.
5. Drafting. to transfer the details of (a more or less two-dimensional design, pattern, or the like) from one surface, esp. one that is prismatic or cylindrical, onto another, usually planar, in such a way that the distances between points remain the same.
6. Biology.
a. to cause to go through the process of natural evolution from a previous and lower stage.
b. to cause to progress from an embryonic to an adult form.
7. Mathematics. to express in an extended form, as in a series.
8. Music. to unfold, by various technical means, the inherent possibilities of (a theme).
9. Photography.
a. to render visible (the latent image on an exposed film or the like).
b. to treat (an exposed film or the like) with chemicals so as to render the latent image visible.
10. Chess. to bring (a piece) into effective play, esp. during the initial phase of a game when pieces are moved from their original position on the board: He developed his rook by castling.
11. Mining. to prepare (a new mine) for working by digging access openings and building necessary structures.
–verb (used without object)
12. to grow into a more mature or advanced state; advance; expand.
13. to come gradually into existence or operation; be evolved.
14. to be disclosed; become evident or manifest.
15. to undergo developing, as a photographic film.
16. Biology.
a. to progress from an embryonic to an adult form.
b. to progress from earlier to later stages of ontogeny or phylogeny.
c. to reach sexual maturity.

Origin:
1585–95; < MF développer, OF desveloper, equiv. to des- DIS- 1 + voloper to wrap up; see ENVELOP

Related forms:
de⋅vel⋅op⋅a⋅ble, adjective
de⋅vel⋅op⋅a⋅bil⋅i⋅ty, noun

Hello 2010...

You were ushered in with blue skies and cold temperatures. In celebration of this crisp freshness, I rattled my tired, post-holiday brain and came up with the idea that this year I'm going to try: Less talking, more listening. Less stressing, more acceptance. Less them, more us. Less law, more nursing. Less than seven items on my to-do-list at any one time. More finishing of projects in progress. Less carbs, more fruit - maybe. Balancing - more or less - one moment at a time.