Lady bug star in this learn node, noting that this week 720,000 lady bugs were released by groundskeepers to find and kill pests harming plants and grass at a major New York City housing complex. Ladybugs, also called lady beetles, are natural enemies of many insects, especially aphids and other sap feeders. The beetle brigades are being used in the New York project to protect the greenery without using chemical insecticides. The tiny bugs are awesome predators: one lady bug can eat as many as 5000 aphids in her lifetime. Not only ladybugs are serving as beetle battlers for the green world. For another example, a Michigan report describes how beetles take a bite out of purple loosestrife.
There are an awful lot of beetles � and a lot beetle websites, often with titles including their scientific order name Coleoptera. The Coleopterists Society home page begins: “We live in the age of the beetles: Beetles, the insect order Coleoptera, are the dominant form of life on earth. One of every five living species of all animals or plants is a beetle! . . . ” Many of the beetle species have shown up online; for one example there are the beautiful Bembidion �where the webpage is the direct presentation of a scientist who is a leading expert on the species he showcases.
The beetle breakout of body parts in the image above is from a Russia Zoological Institute Beetles (Colelptera) and Coleopterists exhibit. From anatomy to poetry and ecology to jewelry, the exhibit showcases our human fascination with the dominant form of life on earth.
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