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We all love ladybugs, but they need our help!!! If you have a camera and are reading this you can help!


Please visit The Lost Ladybug Project at [link], it will tell you there what you can do.




"Across North America ladybug species distribution is changing. Over the past twenty years several native ladybugs that were once very common have become extremely rare. During this same time ladybugs from other places have greatly increased both their numbers and range. Some ladybugs are simply found in new places."



"This is happening very quickly and we don’t know how, or why, or what impact it will have on ladybug diversity or the role that ladybugs play in keeping plant-feeding insect populations low. We're asking you to join us in finding out where all the ladybugs have gone so we can try to prevent more native species from becoming so rare." [link]




Lost Ladybug Song
Written by: Ilene Altman and Tamara HeyĀ


Ladybug, ladybug, ladybu-u-ug

Ladybug, ladybug, ladybu-u-ug



Let's go find a ladybug

They live in gardens, weeds, and shrubs

There are 5000 species worldwide

The number of spots identifies the kind

Ladybugs are beetles with six legs

Ladybugs can be yellow, orange, pink, brown, black, white, blue or red



Ladybug, ladybug, ladybu-u-ug



Ladybugs have two sets of wings

Antennae help them smell, touch, and taste things

Ladybugs chew from side to side

If it's cold or dark, they might not fly

Ladybugs roll over and play dead

Ladybugs release a chemical that tastes terrible in self-defense



Ladybugs have important jobs

Eating aphids that destroy our crops

We need lots of different kinds

But some species are now hard to find

Ladybugs, they need us to conserve

Ladybugs, we will protect your habitats and take care of the Earth



Ladybug, ladybug, ladybu-u-ug

Ladybug, ladybug, ladybu-u-ug

Ladybug, ladybug, ladybug-u-u-ug

Ladybugs!



"Entomologists at Cornell can identify the different species but there are too few of them to sample in enough places to find the really rare ones. We need you to be our legs, hands and eyes."

Here is some history of the project:
" The Lost Ladybug Project was set in motion in the year 2000 when Cornell researchers coordinated with 4-H Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners surveying ladybug populations across New York State. Later the researchers collaborated with graduate students from the Cornell Institute for Biological Teaching to develop ladybug survey projects for children." [link]

"Field-testing these projects with students at a small number of elementary schools in New York State in began in 2004. One of the first major discoveries came in 2006 when Jilene (then 11 years old) and Jonathan (then 10 years old) Penhale found a rare nine-spotted ladybug (Coccinella novemnotata) near their home in Virginia. They just happened to be in the company of parents of a Cornell entomology student who had heard of the Lost Ladybug Project. This was the first ninespotted ladybug seen in the eastern U.S. in 14 years! Their finding confirmed that the species was not yet extinct and that with enough people working together this and other rare ladybug species could be found. With this discovery, and after developing survey methods, a core database, and a beginning children’s project, we were granted funding by the NSF Informal Science Education program in 2008." - Lost Ladybug Project



"Researchers from South Dakota joined the Lost Ladybug quest early on and the project now collaborates with both 4-H and DiscoverLife.org. Now anyone in North America has the opportunity to join the exciting search for rare species and make a tangible contribution to the conservation of these beautiful and useful creatures."--- Lost Ladybug Project



Across the ocean the call them Ladybirds!

There are 450 species native to North America alone.

The Mall of America releases thousands of ladybugs into its indoor park as a natural means of pest control for its gardens.

In parts of Northern Europe, tradition says that one's wish is granted if a ladybird lands on oneself (this tradition lives on in North America, where children capture a ladybird, make a wish, and then "blow it away" back home to make the wish come true). In Italy, it is said by some that if a ladybird flies into one's bedroom, it is considered good luck. In central Europe, a ladybird crawling across a girl's hand is thought to mean she will get married within the year. In some cultures they are referred to as fortune bugs.

In Russia, a popular children's rhyme exists with a call to fly to the sky and bring back bread; similarly, in Denmark a ladybird, called a mariehøne ("Mary's hen"), is asked by children to fly to 'our lord in heaven and ask for fairer weather in the morning'.


Coccinella septempunctata pair mating.The name that the insect bears in the various languages of Europe is mythic. In this, as in other cases, the Virgin Mary has supplanted Freyja, the fertility goddess of Norse mythology; so that Freyjuhaena and Frouehenge have been changed into Marienvoglein, which corresponds with Our Lady's Bird. The esteem with which these insects are regarded has roots in ancient beliefs.


In Irish, the insect is called bóín Dé — or "God's little cow" and in Welsh, the term buwch goch gota is used, containing the word 'buwch' meaning "cow"; similarly, in Croatian it is called Božja ovčica ("God's little sheep"). In France it is known as bête à bon Dieu, "the Good Lord's animal", and in Russia, Божья коровка ("God's little cow"), while in both Hebrew and Yiddish, it is called "Moshe Rabbenu's (i.e. Moses's) little cow" or "Moshe Rabbenu's little horse", apparently an adaptation of the Russian name, or sometimes "Little Messiah

In Greece, ladybirds are called πασχαλίτσα (paschalitsa), because they are found abundantly in Eastertime, along with paschalia, the Common Lilac plant, which flowers at the same time.

In Malta, the ladybird is called nannakola, and little children sing: Nannakola, mur l-iskola/Aqbad siġġu u ibda ogħla (Ladybird go to school, get a chair and start jumping).

In Turkey, when a ladybird lands on children, they sing Uç uç böceği, annen sana terlik papuç alacak (Fly fly bug, your mother will buy you slippers and shoes).

In Finnish, ladybird is, for its blood red color, called leppäkerttu, translating to Blood Gertrud from the ancient Baltic-Finnic meaning blood of the word leppä (that means alder in modern Finnish)[9]. An alternative name is leppäirkko. These differ by the female name at the end.

In Dutch ladybird is called lieveheersbeestje, translating to Our Dear Lord's little creature.

ladybug facts came from [link]

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We can make a difference! Preserve this magical bug!!

Also a special thanks to for making this awesome pixel bug

And a special thanks to for being so supportive to the project!! Give them some !!!

Hope you enjoyed and were inspired to do something good for our Mother Earth!!