The Life-Cycle of a Ladybug

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Most of us know what a Ladybug is. They are also known as a Lady Beetle or Ladybird Beetle. There is actually a lot more names than that, but we will keep it simple here and just stick to those.

We know what they look like and how friendly they seem.

We know that we can pick them up and they do us no harm; although, there are some people who seem to be allergic to them.

They are probably one of the most interesting, cute and friendly little beetles we know.

But do you know what they look like when they are born? What they look like before they become a flying beetle that most of us know them as? Or what their eggs look like?

Surprisingly, it seems that a lot of people don’t.

They do not look like the cute bright orange or reddish ladybugs that we are all familiar with.

They don’t even have wings.

I am going to go over the life-cycle of the Ladybug and show you what they look like at the different stages of their lives.

The Life-Cycle of a Ladybug:

Ladybugs have four stages in their life-cycle:

Eggs
Larva
Pupa
Adult

Egg Stage

When I started writing this article, I could not recall if I had ever seen Ladybug eggs in person.

But in the middle of the time it took me to write this, our son found a cluster of bright orange eggs under a leaf in our garden that he believed were Ladybug eggs. He was so excited!

He took me outside to look and sure enough, they sure do look like Ladybug eggs.

This all happened first thing in the morning, and even though I have been working from home, I thought that I would pull out the better camera after I eat lunch that day to take better photos than what my phone can do.

But to make sure I have something taken, I took a couple photos with my phone anyways, you know, just in case something happens.

That unfortunate thing happened during lunch time, right before we were going to eat, it seems that our daughter had an accident with them and they were no longer to be found.

We were hoping to save these eggs and see if they hatch, this way we can watch the entire process, from start to end.

But accidents happen and we are back on the look out for more eggs.

Here is what they look like (sorry for the poor quality image, but it is all I have right now):

After looking up some photos online, I really do believe these are eggs of a Ladybug.

They usually lay their eggs under the leaves of a plant to help protect them, just like in the photo above.

Not all Ladybug eggs are orange like this. Some are white or yellow.

The egg stage is a short one and only lasts for about 4-10 days.

As you can see, a single Ladybug will lay a lot of eggs at one time.

Larva Stage

The Larva Stage is one where it seems that not many people realize that this is a Ladybug.

They look a lot like little alligators.

This stage is kind of an interesting stage because this is where they grow so much and shed their skins. When they hatch from their eggs, these little guys are super tiny!

I would say that when they hatch, they are approximately an 1/8 inch long. That is small! They grow to approximately 1/2 inch by the time they move on to their next stage in life.

After a week or two of growing, they convert into Pupas.

These photos are from the Ladybug Larve that we raised using the Insect Lore Ladybug Land (paid link).

This is one of the hundreds of Larva we had earlier this year on the exterior of our house.

Pupa Stage

The pupa stage is probably the stage where the Ladybugs are the least attractive, but it is quite an experience for the kids to see.

These Pupas are going through the metamorphosis stage at this point. During this process, you might see them moving, or twitching, rapidly. This seems to be a pretty normal thing for them to do.

Just like the Larva stage, these guys are only like this for a couple weeks.

Here is a photo of a couple of them stucco to the exterior wall of our house. There were probably a hundred or so on the wall this year.

The photos below are from the Ladybug Pupas that we raised using the Insect Lore Ladybug Land (paid link). The one pointing up was twitching up and down when this photo was taken.

Adult Stage

The Adult stage is probably the stage that most people are familiar with.

The Ladybugs now have a set of wings and can fly.

If you notice though, in the photos below, the Ladybugs that come out of the Pupa stage don’t have any spots. They come out like this and their spots begin to show and fully develop within a couple hours.

Ladybugs come in various colors, including red, orange, grey, and black.

They are at this stage for the rest of their lives, which is approximately one year.

Here is a Ladybug hatching from the Pupa. Notice that it does not have any spots yet.

Here is another one that hatched. Again, no spots. You can also see one that has spots now. That one is a couple hours older.

Here you can see a few of them, all with spots. In this photo, you can also see a couple spots where they shed their skin during the Larva stage.

Here is one of the Ladybugs when we released them into the garden. If you decide to raise Ladybugs yourself, you should really consider releasing them soon after they start this stage in their lives as they typically do not live their full year in captivity. Let them go freely and live their lives and reduce the pest population in your garden.

The colors in this one has really become more prominent than when it hatched.

How many types of Ladybugs are there?

According to National Geographic Kids, there are about 5,000 species of Ladybugs in the world. That is a lot of species!

Over the next few years, see how many ladybugs you have where you live. Can you get anywhere close to that number?

These are the ones that I know I have seen in our yard

Of the 5,000 some species that exist, this is the typical ladybug we have where I live. I can’t say that I have seen too many that didn’t look like this. How many species are there that look like this? I have not a clue.

Now the next one was a complete surprise for me. She was the coolest looking thing I have seen as a Ladybug. It was over five years ago when I saw this one and I have yet to see another.

According to LadyBugPlanet.com, there are only 3 species of the white ladybug. Only 3! After reading that, I feel very fortunate that I got to see one in my own backyard.

It appears that this is the Ashy Grey Lady Beetle.

The next one was another that was super cool to see.

Earlier this year, we had hundreds of ladybugs in our yard. There were so many pupas on the exterior of the house and outside decorations we have.

This one was just coming out of the pupa stage and was now becoming an adult.

Notice how it did not have any spots and was bright yellow.

I couldn’t stick around to see its spots form or to see if the yellow color changes to more of a red, but this was still an awesome thing to see.

Can you raise your own Ladybugs?

Absolutely!

You can purchase the kit shown below (below are paid links) and you get everything you need to get started.

The Ladybug Larvae came with the kit along with some food they need.

For a more affordable option, if you already have a setup similar to the one above or one you created yourself, you can buy the Ladybug Larvae on their own!

The great thing about this is that it comes with the food. You just need to provide the enclosed habitat and a safe water source.

The only thing these kits do not have are the eggs, but you still get to see all the other stages of the Ladybug life-cycle.

Give your kids something that they will enjoy learning from. I promise, it is an interesting experience seeing these Ladybugs transform from one stage of their life to the next.