Ladybug Life Cycle
A ladybug has a unique lifecycle actually. There are four stages in its lifecycle just like the butterfly. These are the egg, larva, pupa and the adult stages. When the ladybug becomes an adult, it develops quite a colorful body. There several hundreds of species of ladybugs, and they are identified using their shape and colors just like the butterflies.
The female ladybugs lay eggs under the leaves. This protects the eggs from bad weather, rain and also predators. Every ladybug can lay up to 10 to 15 eggs at a time, and in one cycle, they can lay as much as thousand eggs. The ladybug chooses a spot where food is readily available for the larvae before laying the eggs.
The ladybug life cycle is quite similar to that of a butterfly. Even the ladybug has 4 stages in its life cycle. These are the egg stage, the larval stage, the pupal stage, and finally the adult stage. Even though most people are familiar with a lady bug’s appearance, they will not be able to identify the bug in its first three developmental stages. The lady bug looks very different in the egg, larval and pupal stages.
The eggs hatch and the larva come out looking for food. They find other insects and insect eggs and they start feeding on them. This is how they keep your garden clean. The newborn larva looks like small and minute alligators. After a few days, the larva starts shedding its skin. After two weeks, the larva stage is completed, and the pupal stage begins. This stage lasts for 12 days, after which the adult ladybug comes out of the cocoon.
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