Many people think that the lady-bug is just a species, but there are more than one types of lady-beetles. The Cacti Lady Beetle was assigned to me. So with that said, my job is to summarize what knowledge I’ve gained about it in this essay.

So this is the general description of the Cacti Lady Beetle. It’s small and ranges from 3.6-5.2 mm. It’s black and has 2 red spots, one on each wing cover. It has no known adaptations. The characteristics that set it apart from all other lady-beetles its ventral colors range from orange-red. Not educated yet? Cause I still have to tell you a lot more.

Next, I’ll discuss its habitat, populations, and conservation status. The Cactus Lady Beetle is found in the US and South America, commonly in California, Florida, and Nevada. There are a steady amount (which I’m assuming cause there are no exact numbers) and it’s not changing because there are no known predators so actually I take that back, it’s growing. The conservation status is stable since it’s helpful to humans and used against pests by many gardeners.  So that’s the sum of their conservation (or at least what I know about it).

Finally, there’s its diet, feeding habits, and predators to talk about. My animal is along with many other ladybugs in the food web, hunted by lizards and small birds, only set apart only by its defenses, making it an undesirable treat. It feeds on many soft-shelled and scaled pests.  These include the soft bamboo scale and oleander pit scale. Its defense mechanisms include aposematism or warning of its bad taste or poisonous nature. Also the females can use reflex bleeding to let blood through their knee joints to fend off predators with its wretched stench. So that’s all I have to say about its place in the food web/chain.

In total, this animal is very important to gardeners and farmers. They use it like many other lady-bugs to eat pests. What I found the most interesting about the Cacti lady bug was its twice stabbed pattern or the red spots on its wings. In my opinion, this is not your average lady beetle.

Author: Jonathan G.
Date Published: 1/13

Sources: bugguide.net/node/view/83002, http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-16_twicestabbed_ladybug.htm, and American Beetles Volume II By Ross H, Published by CRC Press 2002

Photo credit: http://bugguide.net/node/view/95156 By Robert L. Pearson 2007