Click the insect to take the challenge and find out more aboutLADYBUGS . . .

Go outside on a warm summer day. Look around. What insects do you see? You might see bees and butterflies flying from flower to flower. You might seeants scurrying across the sidewalk. You might see ladybugs crawling on leaves.

INSECTS ARE EVERYWHERE!Third Grade ObjectivesCompare life cycles of different animals.Classify animals according to characteristics.Summarize text, sequence information.Use graphic organizers.

What does a LADYBUG eat?

Where can you find a LADYBUG?

LADYBUGS – Part I

Interesting LADYBUG facts?

After exploring the questions below, click on the arrow to continue your learning about LADYBUGS.

These tiny predators are usually very welcome in gardens because ladybug larvae and adults eat aphids, mealy bugs, and mites (which are garden pests).

Ladybug larvae can eat about 25 aphids a day; adult ladybugs can eat over 50 aphids a day.

Ladybugs live in a variety of habitats, including forests, fields, grasslands, gardens, and even in people's houses.

As a defense, ladybug adults will fall to the ground and "play dead." They also can secretean amber bad tasting fluid from the joints in their legs to protect themselves.

Beetles make up the largest insect family and come in all shapes and sizes. Ladybugs are small beetles. There are about 250,000 different kinds of beetles! The largest beetles are called Hercules. They can grow to be more than six inches long!

All ladybugs have a special wing covering. The covering is actually a pair of wings. These “covering” wings protect the flying wings underneath. They act like a hard outer shell.

How many stages are in the life cycle of a LADYBUG?

How does a LADYBUG grow?

How long does it take for the LADYBUG to go through its life cycle?

During the LADYBUGS life cycle did you begin to notice that your insect started looking like its parent?

Which stage did you notice this?

LADYBUGS – Part IIAfter exploring the questions below, click on the arrow to continue your learning about LADYBUGS.

Female LADYBUGS lay tiny eggs, usually laid in a small mass (fertilization is internal).

The larvae that hatches from the egg is small and long and has 6 legs. As it rapidly grows, the larva molts (sheds its skin) several times. After reaching full size, the larvae attaches itself to a plant leaf or stem (by its "tail").

The larval skin then splits down the back, exposing the pupa. The pupa is about the size of the adult but is all wrapped up, protecting the LADYBUG while the it undergoes metamorphosis into its adult stage. This last stage in the metamorphosis takes a few days.

The LADYBUG, like all beetles, undergoes a complete metamorphosis during its life.

The life stages of the ladybug are:

egg --> larva --> pupa --> adult

The length of the life cycle varies depending upon temperature, humidity, and food supply. Usually the life cycle from egg to adult requires about three to four weeks, or up to six weeks during cooler spring months.

In the spring, over-wintering adults find food, then lay from fifty to three hundred eggs in her lifetime (tiny, light -yellow eggs are deposited in clusters of 10 to 50 each) in aphid colonies. Eggs hatch in three to five days, and larvae feed on aphids or other insects for two to three weeks, then pupate. Adults emerge in seven to ten days.

There may be five to six generations per year. In the autumn, adults hibernate, sometimes in large numbers, in plant refuse and crevices.

When does the LADYBUG begin to started looking like the parent?

LADYBUGS – Part IIIAfter exploring the LADYBUGS Anatomy, click on the arrow to continue your learning.

Bees, butterflies, ants, wasps and LADYBUGS all look different. But they are all insects. And, all insects are alike in some ways.

All insects, including LADYBUGS, each have six legs. All insects each have three body parts. They have a head, a thorax, and an abdomen.

All insects have an exoskeleton. This is a hard covering on the outside oftheir bodies. Most insects have antennas. Most insects also have wings andhatch from eggs.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

• Print out the next four pages.

• Demonstrate your learning by completing the Retell, the Web, the Lifecycle and the Anatomy Label.

• Turn these pages into your teacher.

• After you have complete the LADYBUG Tutorial successfully, you may continue on to the next insect tutorial of your choice.

Directions to PRINT: 1. File 2. Print 3. Slides 13-16 4. O.K.

Retell “What You Know” about Ladybugs

Ladybugs

Anatomy

PredatorsHabitat

InterestingBehaviors

Diet

Use the Web to organize your thoughts about LADYBUGS

Sequence the Ladybug Life CycleIllustrate your understanding of the stages using the boxes

LADYBUG Anatomy

Use the WORD BANK to label the parts of the LADYBUG

AntennaHeadThoraxAbdomenLegWing