10.20.2009 3:42 pm
Downtown St. Louis under attack by ladybugs
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Over the past few days, the watercooler talk at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has shifted from Balloon Boy to the large number of ladybugs that seem to be swarming the downtown area.
Personally, EcoSpeak enjoys ladybugs, long-considered a symbol of good luck. And don’t all of us in the newspaper biz need a little good luck these days?
Anyway, as many EcoSpeak readers know, I haven’t lived in St. Louis that long so I’m not in the best position to speculate on the latest ladybug invasion.
So here’s my question - are ladybug swarms common in these parts? If so, what time of the year do you notice them the most? If you work downtown, have you experienced the latest siege?
(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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Kim McGuire joined the Post-Dispatch in August 2007. She has covered the environment for almost 10 years while working at The Denver Post and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. In 2004, McGuire was named a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder. 
They’re actually asian beetles that were imported some time ago to control aphids. They look a lot like lady bugs. On warm fall days, they begin to seek shelter from the cold. A south-facing wall warmed by the sun is usually a good target. They will infest every nook and cranny they can find until winter comes. I don’t really know if they survive the winter or not. I doubt it though.
EcoSpeak readers are the best. Thanks Gary!
These faux ladybugs are driving me crazy! They swarm, dive and bite. They have taken over the side of my house and yard and I wish they’d buzz off. I have never seen anything like them in 35 yrs in this area. ~Thank you for the info Gary, I was curious why we have these lil pests around now. I too thought they were ladybugs until my husband told me they weren’t.
Gary,
If they are asian beetles they’ll survive winter and next year be even worse. My parents live in central IL and have been dealing with them for years.
I called an exterminator and had a swarm of them “gassed” in my attic. I find dead ones on the windowsill by the hour.
Beware when you swat one, or even clean up a dead one. They will stain clothing and upholstery very, very permanently.
Ortho Home Defense works well to help control the beetles. Spray around windows and doors and outside at the S and SW corner of your house. You will see dead ones for weeks.
Please do NOT poison them… you will kill birds and bats that control their population.
Yes, ladybug swarms are quite common, especially on warm days following several cold ones. You killed ladybugs!!!! Are you nuts????
I’m near Toronto, Ontario, Canada and we are infested. And yes, I will kill every last one of them because they are covering my condo building and coming into my house. This is disgusting, I feel like I am at war with them. I’m all about the environment, but I think we need to go back to the old-fashioned fumigation to get rid of pests instead of bringing in new pests that become more of a problem! My home is my sanctuary, and until they start paying my mortgage or contributing to taxes, they’re getting vaccuumed up!
Nat stated that she is all for the environment, but believes in fumigating these insects. How are you for the environment when you so obviously oppose it? Hey I’ll bet you believe that people sheould be free to practice their own religion, as long as it is the same religion as yours too, eh? Or support same-sex marriages, as long as they are hetero. Give me a break! These “pests” are eating the aphids and other insects that destroy crops. Kill them and next year you’ll be whining about how your roses are all chewed up by aphids, which are tended to by ants (ants eat the excrement of the aphids). Quit your whining, and be glad that every beetle you see is one less bug next year attacking your garden.