Lady beetle textbook
Name the hunter in the yard
Florida has about 105 lady beetle species. A few hunt aphids on citrus flush. One packs wall voids when nights cool. Start with the family, then the four stages, then the plants that keep them — dill, alyssum, and a light aphid colony left long enough to hatch.
Where to start
1. Name them
Family and stages
Start with the family Coccinellidae, then egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The larva is the hunter most yards miss.
2. Florida
Natives and Harmonia
Name the often-spotless Cycloneda, convergent Hippodamia, and the Asian lady beetle that clusters in houses.
3. Yard
Keep them
Keep umbels, alyssum, water, and a light aphid colony long enough for eggs to hatch.
How a lesson is built
Each lesson opens with a short lede, then teachable sections, a table or ordered steps where a list would lie, terms, questions, and the live UF/IFAS or USDA link. Color is a poor ID. The pronotum and the habit are the field key.
- Open the family page, then the four stages.
- Match a yard adult to natives or Harmonia before guessing a crate label.
- Read habitat and plants before any product comes off the shelf.
Lesson catalog
Lady beetles
Family
Lady beetles of Florida
Coccinellidae in Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties: about a hundred Florida species, not all red, not all spotted.
Four stages
Egg, larva, pupa, adult
How a lady beetle grows, and why the hungry stage does not look like the beetle on the crate label.
Florida
Native lady beetles
Cycloneda sanguinea, Hippodamia convergens, and the pink-spotted beetle as UF/IFAS names them.
Adventive
Multicolored Asian lady beetle
Harmonia axyridis: color morphs, pest feeding, and the beetles that pack a Florida wall in cool weather.
Field
Varieties and regions
A short field key for Central Florida: natives, immigrants, and the migration story of convergent beetles.
Yard
Yard
Encourage lady beetles
Prey, pollen, water, and no broadcast insecticide. A Central Florida yard keeps hunters without a shipped bag.
Plants
Plants lady beetles use
Pollen plants for adults and the crop plants that host the aphids they hunt in Central Florida.
Food web
What they do in a yard
Aphid and scale hunting, limits, and the other animals that share the work.
Field notes
Myths that waste a yard
Shipped beetles, ladybug hotels, and the idea that every red beetle is harmless indoors.
Garden
Climate
Central Florida zones
USDA 9b and 10a, heat, rain, and why an Orlando year is not a Michigan year.
Practice
Florida-Friendly Landscaping
The nine UF/IFAS principles applied to a Central Florida yard that also wants lady beetles.
Color
Flowers and colorful crops
Zinnias, pentas, tomatoes, okra, peppers, and citrus as Central Florida crate-label subjects.
Ground
Soil, mulch, and rain
Sandy Central Florida soil, summer water, and the fungus that follows a daily overhead spray.
IPM
Yard spray and hunters
Identify the insect, keep the hunters, and treat one plant if a product is actually required.
Questions
Are all lady beetles red with black spots?
No. ENY-822 says adults come in many colors, including brown or black, and often lack spots.
Where do the papers live?
On the guides page, as live UF/IFAS and USDA links. Lessons point; they do not reprint copyrighted tables.