• Question: why are lady birds called ladybirds? they dont look like ladys ;)x

    Asked by lindseymerrygold to Christine, Edd, Jess, Nicolas, Zara on 17 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Zara Gladman

      Zara Gladman answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      They definitely don’t look like ladies! Or birds… in America, they’re called ‘ladybugs’! 🙂

      I didn’t know the answer to this question and wanted to find out too.. so I did some searching on the internet and found this:

      “The most common species of ladybird in Britain is the seven-spot ladybird. This bright red ladybird has seven spots and is thought to have inspired the name ladybird: “Lady” referring to the Virgin Mary (Our lady) who in early paintings is seen wearing a red cloak; the seven spots are symbolic of the seven joys and seven sorrows of Mary.”

      (from here: http://www.ladybird-survey.org/lots_about.aspx )

      Have you heard about the ‘harlequin ladybird’? It’s a species from Asia that has now arrived in the UK and is the most invasive ladybird on earth! They out-compete our native ladybirds and are a nuisance to gardeners. There’s more information here (if you see one, you should contact the website!): http://www.harlequin-survey.org/

    • Photo: Edward Codling

      Edward Codling answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Zara got there first – I was about to post the same!

      One of the big problems with invasive species at the moment in Britain is with the ‘harlequin ladybird’ – these don’t look like the red and black spotted ladybird which naturally lives here – instead they come in all sorts of colours and patterns. They are a problem as they outcompete our natural ladybirds.

      If you look on this page you can see more info http://www.harlequin-survey.org/
      If you spot them in your garden it is important to let these people know as they need to track where the invasion has got to. If you look at the map on the weblink you can see the invasion started near where I live in Essex! We have loads of them in our garden – I am not sure what do to about them as they eat all the aphids that attack my plants (which is good) but they are not the natural ladybird we should have!

    • Photo: Jessica Chu

      Jessica Chu answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      haha cool answers

    • Photo: Nicolas Biber

      Nicolas Biber answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      I have never thought of that before, your question made me realize that ladybirds are actually called the same in English and in German. Of course ‘lady’ refers to the Virgin Mary, in German they are called ‘Muttergotteskäfer’ or ‘Mariakäfer’, Muttergottes or Maria meaning the Virgin Mary and Käfer meaning beetle. Still, I didn’t know that they were called that because of the red cloak.

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