The Great Lakes region has been invaded by another non-native species. But this one may be more beneficial than it is a nuisance. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports on the Asian ladybird beetle:
Transcript
The Great Lakes region has been invaded by another non-native species. But this one may be more beneficial than it is a nuisance. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports on the Asian ladybird beetle.
They’re everywhere, it seems: landing on us and pacing up and down the windows of our homes. The ladybug look-alikes were first introduced in the South. And they’ve since moved north. Tom Ellis is an entomologist at Michigan State University.
“All throughout the year they’ve been doing good things. They’ve been feeding on insects that suck plant juices and damage plants, especially plants of agricultural interest, and during the fall they migrate into areas where’re they’re looking for cavities to hibernate in, and as people see, they do this in large numbers.”
The bugs main prey is aphids and last year’s healthy aphid population means a lot of beetles too. The beetles are probably here to stay and there may be even more of them next year. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tracy Samilton.