Documenting Ladybugs

Over the past several weeks, Alexandra and I have been documenting our ladybugs almost daily. We've never seen anything like this!

It started in early May with quite a few larva on our spa. They were eating some kind of bug, which I've since determined were wooly aphids that are probably on my neighbor's jasmine. Anyway, about a week or so later, we discovered more larva and pupa on our chimnea. And, last week we discovered even more on the grill and pool equipment. One day last week, we counted over 50 ladybugs between the larva, pupa, and adults!

So, we've been documenting the life cycles of of our ladybugs and I have taken HUNDREDS of photos. I still haven't waded through all of the photos, but I'd like to share some of our photos with you all. Enjoy!

LARVAL STAGE - A ladybug larva molts 3 times thus it goes through 4 instars. I would like to learn to identify each stage (there is a definite size difference, but they also just appear different.) And, I would LOVE to be able to identify what type of ladybug (or ladybird beetle) each larva will be as an adult. If anyone has a resource, I'd love to know!

Here's a fairly late instar.

And, you can see this larva looks quite different.

Above this larva, you can see 2 wooly aphids. It was actually pretty amazing to watch these little guys eat -they are good hunters and eat a lot!

Here's a great shot of a larva starting to pupate. I love how you can see the legs folded under.

Here's a pupa.
And another one. Do you see how different they look? I like that this one looks like it is cracking, but it stayed like that for days.

And, even another one. Can you see the little spiky "things" that it is attached to the wall with? They're pretty strong.

And another one. I would also like to figure out what type of ladybug would emerge from each pupa. If I get another chance with ladybugs, I'll mark each pupa (put a sticker next to it) and wait to see what emerges - they usually come out in the morning, so I don't think it'd be too hard.

Here's a newly emerged ladybug!

And another one. This one was really tiny! I still haven't quite figured out if ladybugs just get their spots later on. Does anyone know? Most of the ones we find early in the morning are spotless or have very faint spots.

And another. I need to identify all of these. :-)

Like I said, I actually have hundreds of photos, but I will only share a few more sometime soon. I did find my first GRAY ladybug and that was a real treat!