this post was submitted on 30 Oct 2024
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Science Memes

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Do it. (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago (1 children)

FYI everyone, importing ladybugs can be very harmful to the native population.

Ladybugs have evolved to their environment to a crazy degree, and bringing in outside ladybug species can pass on pathogens, parasites, or out compete native populations for food. The imported ladybugs generally are from California and won't survive your local winter, so by adding ladybugs this year you might be reducing their numbers in coming years which starts a harmful cycle.

My point is, buy green lacewings or assassin bugs or something else from Arbico Organics or Nature's Good Guys. There are plenty of predators that are a better choice than ladybugs.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

imported ladybugs generally are from California

I doubt they're shipping them across the Atlantic when there are breeders all over the world!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh this is about importing asian lady beetles and not the normal native red ones from the USA?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

It's a bit of both. The problem is ladybugs are so localized that disruptions to their ecosystem really messes them up. In the US most ladybugs are harvested out of a ground breeding kind of ladybug that commonly has parasites they've evolved to be able to fight. But other ladybugs in the rest of the country don't have these defenses and the parasite can infect colonies when they all come together to mate and hibernate for the winter.