What lady bugs the common bean?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

September 19, 2001

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Ladybugs or ladybird beetles (Family: Coccinellidae) [coc si nell' i day] are considered beneficial insects. Dining on aphids or mealybugs, these cute little critters are on the side of the gardener. But every family has its black sheep and this family has two serious contenders for that title.

Sta-Home™ Lady Beetles Adult lady beetles and their larvae are an excellent, non-chemical way to control aphids, Colorado potato beetles (egg stage) and other insect pests in your garden.

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Mexico is one of the two places where the common bean was domesticated. It is also the home of a golden colored ladybug. And "she" is no dainty lady nibbling on aphids. "She" much prefers to scarf on bean plants, but any legume will do in a pinch. When a horde of these "ladies" are finished with a garden, it looks like someone blowtorched the beans. Most gardeners don't even know "she's" a ladybug. They call this minor monster the Mexican bean beetle.

Mexican bean beetles (Epilachna varivestis) [e pi lack' na va ri vess' tis] come from the plateau of southern Mexico where the summers are rainy. Arriving in Alabama about 80 years ago, bean beetles have done very well for themselves in the eastern U.S. They have adapted to hibernating in leaf litter, breeding and laying eggs in the spring. Each female can lay about 500 eggs in her lifetime. With few predators outside of their natural range, Mexican bean beetles quickly got out of hand.

Although, many Native Americans grew beans originally from Mexico, bean beetles were not imported into the U.S. until 1920. Prehistorically, agriculture spread slowly over the continent and these pests did not survive crossing the hot dry deserts of northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S.

University of Florida has great photographs of the Mexican bean beetle, its eggs, and larvae. To view the photographs click on the link:

http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/veg/bean/mexican_bean_beetle.htm

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