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| Asian lady beetle |
Over the past week, scores of Asian beetles have bivouacked on my screen door. They're driving me nuts. They get into everything. You can't keep them out. When I was a kid, I considered myself lucky to find a lady bug. Not these suckers. They're a plague.
Here are some interesting facts.
- Did you know that someone deliberately brought the Asian beetle to the US? Yep. In 1988 they were introduced to combat native aphids. But they're so prolific that they have displaced our own beloved lady bug.
- The Asian lady beetle can lay from 20-30 eggs a day. That's up to 3,800 eggs a season.
- The reason so many of these pests congregate is that they are called by a pheromone they secrete in the fall.
- Depending on temperature, Asian beetles can live anywhere from 3 months to 3 years. (Not if I see 'em.)
- You may or may not know that Asian beetles bite. But I'll bet you didn't know that their bite can cause pink eye.
- Asian beetles also have a defensive odor. So, like the stink bug, they stink if you smash 'em. Go ahead, try it.
What's the moral here? Humans rarely, if ever, improve the natural order.
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Saturday, October 24, 2015