Talkback: Harlequin ladybirds - Talkback

30/10/2009 at 14:21

I found a 'reversed' lady bird on my back door step yesterday... black with two red spots (or maybe they were white, can't remember now)... where does this belong - native / abroad?

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30/10/2009 at 17:40

i have about 5 asia ladybirds in my house recently trying to hibernate,is this getting more common Birmingham.

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30/10/2009 at 18:39

About a month ago I saw my first Harlequin ladybird in my mixed garden border in Shrewsbury. My feelings were ambivalent - should Iexterminate it as a pest? But as I won't kill anything in the garden I checked the Net and found that it is so widespread in Britain now that there is no point in killing it. Daily my young grandaughter and I count the harlequins and compare colours from lemon yellow to black and all spots in between. We look at the larvae and have also noticed the tail lifting in the pupa. They are now hibernating in nooks and crannies around the house. Am I going to reap the whirlind by allowing this? I see so few of our native ladybirds in the garden that I have, so far welcomed them for their colour and appetite.

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31/10/2009 at 09:52

I am told there are lots on the walls of our district council offices. Ones in my house I have put outside before my cat tries to eat them, but feel mean!

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01/11/2009 at 11:14

The front of my house was covered and I mean covered with Harlequin ladybirds towards the end of October I live above Pangbourne in the Chilterns and the following week a house on the outskirts was similarly invaded

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02/11/2009 at 08:00

Update Thanks for all the comments. Now is the time that ladybirds start to hibernate and this is why people are finding them on their houses or coming indoors. It is this behaviour that has caused most upset to the Americans - they come into buildings in large numbers and the biggest fuss is from wine producers who find their vats polluted with them. Ladybirds are warningly coloured because they contain bitter poisons to deter predators. These bitter chemicals taint the wine. They will not do any harm indoors, but an easy solution is to release them into an unheated greenhouse, shed or out-building where they will settle down properly and not be disturbed by central heating.

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03/11/2009 at 10:40

I found them to be extremely effective biocontrol agents in my greenhouse this year. I collected around 20 from the garden and placed them on the aphid infested pepper plants and within a week or two... no more aphids!

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11/11/2009 at 18:55

My house has been invaded with these harlequin ladybirds, literally about 1,000 I reckon. I contacted the local wildlife organisation who informed me that they are not welcome and to exterminate them asap. They informed me that native, British ladybirds hibernate outdoors but these are not welcome. However, trying to kill them has proved interesting and involved a manual process of popping them one-by-one! Even then, some have survived and tried to crawl out of the bag. Not a nice job, but then again it was not nice having them stain the curtains and one even deposited its "venom" on my wedding dress, causing chaos, and making me 25 minutes late for church whilst we attempted to cover over the resulting blood-like stain!! I donot like to kill animals etc, but these are not really very pleasant.

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16/11/2009 at 22:23

You need to kill these harlequins. The advice not to kill them is ridiculous. One ladybird can create thousands of young. The harlequins try to hibernate in houses and will bite people if they do not have enough food. The bites are very itchy and some people are allergic to them and will find them extremely uncomfortable. The yellow poison they spew out smells bad, and stains furniture. The info is out there, people. Go and read it. I know someones kitchen has been invaded. She won't kill them. Its now November and she is swearing the itchy rash she has all over her legs arms and neck is mosquitoes.. Don't forget, like any other insects in the house, these will crawl over unhygenic surfaces and then over your food and prep surfaces... They are attracted to any sugary substance, which is why they spoil the wine... they spoil fruit also.. Probably the best way to kill them without chemicals and without them ruining the house when you pop them is to suck them up in a handheld vacuum and flush them down the loo.

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17/11/2009 at 02:11

I found one - orange with lots of black spots - in my living room a couple of hours ago.( What with that and the rats under the floor, I'm not happy.) re. no.4 comment, I'm 30 miles south of Shrewsbury.

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18/01/2010 at 15:01

An hour ago, I found a group of about 20 harlequin ladybirds under a plant pot on my balcony. I thought that they were dead initially and swept them up with a dustpan and brush..noticed that they were moving so deposited them near some shrubs in the outside communal area where I live. Am a bit worried after having read the above comments, I live on a housing estate in Brixton, South West London.

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25/01/2010 at 15:43

The important thing to remember is that it is a pest only if it reaches pest proportions. Despite the media worries and tabloid tattle, most people will hardly be aware that harlequins have arrived; they will be subsumed into just another part of the local ecology. If, however, they really are becoming a nuisance, then do something about them: discourage them, move them, kill them. But please accept that there is no such thing as a 'bad' (or 'good') insect, just some that come into conflict with humans. Conflict is a natural part of the world, and they are just obeying their evolutionary and genetic programming.

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04/02/2010 at 15:02

I have been innundated with these pests in a south facing study near Horsham in West Sussex. I tried all sorts of things including keeping them in a silver screw topped jar and they live forever!! I have counted significantly more than the 30 that I spilt when I tried to catch another two. They have twice invaded my house. They were around last May and have been back since Christmas, Not even an anti- bacterial spray affects them.

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17/02/2010 at 19:38

kill as many as you can. i first noticed them arriving about three years ago. now they crawl all over the house are a nightmare to contain. even worse, i have not seen a native ladybird since they arrived. bloody foreigners lol

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19/02/2010 at 17:36

i have been told a harlequin has a W on the head but how do you tell the differance between a harlequin and a british lady bird ??? A 100% identification please dont want to kill any british ladybird who likes my central heating

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10/03/2010 at 13:34

I can't make up my mind, I really do not like to kill any insect especially not a ladybird. Am I correct in assuming that they eat the same pesky affids as our native ladybirds do ?? I think I shall wait and see how they spread around this year before coming to any decision, to kill or not to kill. I still feel not to kill !!!

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08/04/2010 at 19:40

I hadn't realised that the invasion that hit my house last autumn had caused such worry. We must have had hundreds of them wintering in our house, mostly in the seal of my daughters bedroom window. What a load of balony re problems with them we had nothing but hours of fun. If nothing else it has just heightened her increasing interest in wildlife, anything that keeps her way from the tv and outside learning about what is about her is welcome by me.

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14/04/2010 at 17:38

my friend has just been bitten by a ladybird and its red with black spots which are outlined with yellow does anyone know what type this is?

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15/04/2010 at 21:57

It may be the eyed ladybird, our largest species, and with jaws large enough to open wide to bite? Check this link http://www.koleopterologie.de/gallery/fhl07c/anatis-ocellata-foto-wmueller.jpg It is a pine tree specialist, eating pine aphids.

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08/07/2010 at 10:44

On Monday of this week 05/07/10, that our runner bean plants seem to be covered in ladybird pupa. I didn't know which type of ladybird it was until I noticed 2 dead harlequin ladybirds. Should I kill all the pupa? There seems to be no end of eggs on the plants, so if I have to kill them what pesticide should I use so as not to harm the runner bean plants?