the other day, i found some three orange pupae on the side of the road. i didn’t know what they were1, so i decided to bring them home and see what would hatch.
only three days later, the little creatures emerged, and turned out to be seven-spot ladybirds.
i named them hubert, rupert and milbert (the photos show milbert, the first one that hatched; somebody – i’m not pointing fingers ;-) – renamed the other two harry and toto).
it was interesting to see that the freshly hatched beetles didn’t show the characteristic spots from the beginning. it took 30 to 40 minutes until the spots were “completed”.
[view photos: ladybirds hatching]
- ladybird larvae are blueish-black, and the pupa’s colour doesn’t necessarily relate to the adult beetle [↩]