Bright yellow eggs sit attached to a branch. Though they’re vulnerable to predators (including their hatching siblings), many eggs will yield larvae that will go through metamorphosis and turn into ladybugs (coccinellidae), also known as ladybirds and lady beetles. This time-lapse from YouTuber TimVid captures the entire process up close. From NatGeo Kids:
There are about 5,000 different species of ladybugs in the world… They come in many different colors and patterns, but the most familiar in North America is the seven-spotted ladybug, with its shiny, red-and-black body…
Most people like them because they are pretty, graceful, and harmless to humans. But farmers love them because they eat aphids and other plant-eating pests. One ladybug can eat up to 5,000 insects in its lifetime! Most ladybugs have oval, dome-shaped bodies with six short legs. Depending on the species, they can have spots, stripes, or no markings at all…
Ladybugs lay their eggs in clusters or rows on the underside of a leaf, usually where aphids have gathered. Larvae, which vary in shape and color based on species, emerge in a few days.
We’ve had luck caring for ladybugs with Insect Lore’s Live Ladybug Growing Kit. These ladybug life cycle figures are also great for classrooms.
Next: Slow motion ladybugs look like they can’t fly before they do.
Plus: The first 21 days of a bee’s life, a time lapse in 64 seconds, the Life Cycle of the Silkworm, and Monarch Butterfly Metamorphosis in HD.
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