A bright spotted bug, a symbol of good luck, a beneficial insect that protects the garden from aphids and spider mites - anyone will list this entire set when mentioning a ladybug. But a dangerous predator, a harmful invasive species, a potato pest, a painfully biting beetle - then who are we talking about? About her!
Most people know the ladybug as a useful garden beetle, which, both in its adult and larval stages, rids crops of aphids, spider mites, scale insects, honey bugs, and scale insects. But it turns out that there are exceptions to every rule - and this insect, familiar to everyone from childhood (“Ladybug, fly to the sky, where your children eat candy”) can be aggressive and very harmful, biting people. Destroy cultivated plants, and also displace beneficial local species of insects.
Can this insect bite or not?
Of the large number of varieties of ladybugs, and there are more than 5,200 species, only a couple of species bite and are dangerous to humans, for example, Harlequin and with 28 spots. They can bite hard and cause harm to the body.
Other species only pinch prey with their claws in case of attack or defense. The ladybug secretes a special yellow secretion from the joints of its legs, which is poison for most insects. It smells sharp, tastes bitter, and can scare off the main enemies:
- frog;
- insects that feed on cows;
- spiders
Birds also try to avoid it because of its unpleasant taste.
Important! The ladybug belongs to the class of predators, because it feeds not only on herbaceous food, leaves, but also on other insects such as slugs, snails, aphids, spider mites, and its relatives.
The onset of winter forces the insect to prepare for hibernation. The cow stores nutrients and removes excess water from its body. At this time, from the end of September, it becomes as aggressive as possible and can even attack a person.
Natural enemies
Bright coloring, bitter taste, and the ability to secrete poisonous hemolymph with an unpleasant odor provide small bugs with protection from many natural enemies. Birds, large insect predators, insectivores, and spiders do not eat ladybugs.
The only creatures that pose a danger to coccinellids are the ichneumon fly Dinocampus. It lays eggs in the body of larvae and adults, and then the hatched larvae eat the body of the victim, which leads to its death. Dinocampus find beetles by the very smell that repels all other enemies.
How dangerous is the bite, is it poisonous to humans?
While playing with a ladybug in your palm, pay attention to its color.
An ordinary red little cow with 7 spots is not dangerous to humans. But with 28 spots or black with red dots, a Harlequin can bite quite painfully and with consequences.
An ordinary cow, pinching a person and releasing its juice, can provoke a slight tingling of the skin, which is not dangerous for most.
But after being bitten by a 28-spotted one, you will have to seek help from a medical facility. The ladybug does not feed on human blood, so it cannot become a carrier of diseases for him, like a mosquito.
The big danger lies in the secretion released from the joints. This is the hemolymph of an insect, containing two alkaloids:
- adalen;
- coccinellin.
The poisonous hemolymph also contains the poison cantharidin. When this poison comes into contact with human skin, the hair follicle is affected, resulting in large blisters and swelling.
If you accidentally eat a poisonous ladybug, then cantharidin entering the digestive tract can cause a person to:
- nausea;
- dizziness;
- severe poisoning;
- intoxication.
The 7-spotted red beetle is not dangerous if, for example, it is accidentally swallowed by a child or gets into food. Her lymph contains cantharidin in small quantities, not enough to cause poisoning.
Gardeners note that during the grape harvest, a large number of bugs getting into the wine can change its taste.
What types of ladybugs bite?
The ladybug family includes more than 4,000 different species, the most common of which is the seven-spotted ladybug. This member of the family is considered harmless to humans and brings great benefits, as it destroys a dangerous garden pest - aphids.
The most aggressive “bugs” that can bite through human skin are considered to be two species.
Description and photo of the most dangerous black species of Harlequin
Let's look at what makes the black Harlequin cow special and dangerous. Another name for the breed is the Asian ladybug. Because of their gluttony, the first insects were brought to the countries of America and Europe from Asia to control pests in greenhouses, since the Harlequin eats up to 200 aphids per day.
But scientists were unable to control the insects. This species is rapidly multiplying throughout the planet, adapting at the expense of local cows and destroying its relatives.
She loves shady places with a lot of greenery, trees, and bushes. The body of the Asian Harlequin can be attacked by parasites and mites. Therefore, this species is a carrier of diseases and poses a threat to other insects and people.
Harlequin causes irreparable harm to a person. Settling in a summer cottage or garden, the insect eats the foliage of radishes, beets, cabbage, potatoes, and garden trees. An invasion of ladybugs can completely destroy a crop in a few days.
The bite of the Harlequin ladybug resembles a mosquito bite, only it releases yellow poison and causes a severe allergic reaction on the skin. People prone to allergies may experience anaphylactic shock.
You can distinguish it from a mosquito by several characteristics:
- the poison irritates the skin, the bite site turns red;
- there is a strong feeling of itching;
- the skin becomes swollen and swells;
- an allergic reaction occurs.
To avoid being bitten, it is not recommended to handle unknown species of ladybugs.
Next you can see what a black Harlequin looks like:
Video about interesting facts and features of the Asian ladybug:
How ants winter, features of insects, the structure of their family and methods of control
Before the onset of the cold season, adult individuals carefully seal all external passages from the anthill in advance using dry grass and earth. Passages are opened only for the time when food supplies need to be replenished. But this happens only when the ambient temperature rises.
If in winter the upper part of the anthill gets wet, a special detachment transfers food supplies to chambers that are located deeper. Ants overwinter in their insulated home until March-April. The main sign that insects are approaching the surface is the laying of eggs by the queen and the gradual resumption of activity. In the spring, the life activity of adult insects resumes completely.
Living in different regions and under different climatic conditions, all these insects overwinter in their own way. For example, polar species have to spend the winter from 7 to 9 months. They manage to feed their offspring during that short warm period of time when there is no snow. In their expansion to the north, insects are stopped only by the border, beyond which, even in summer, the soil does not warm up deeper than 30 cm.
For example:
- Kamchatkas make their homes on hummocks; the depth of their anthills ranges from 10 to 40 cm. The temperature of the ground in summer is very important to them for the normal development of the larvae.
- Ants living in hot regions of Central Asia and the Mediterranean overwinter for a maximum of 1 to 2 months.
- Ants living in Turkey do not winter every year. They hide for the winter only when severe weather conditions occur, which does not happen very often. But this type of insect still prepares for wintering every year, making food reserves, arranging homes and feeding larvae.
- The well-known pest of the pharaoh ant, or as it is also called the house ant, never prepares for winter and does not go to bed. This is due to the fact that its homeland is the tropics, where there are no climate changes. He lives excellently in a person’s home and can die only when, by some accident, he remains on the street.
In winter, the larvae stop their development and do not pupate, the pupae stop metamorphosis, and the queens stop laying eggs. In preparation for winter, adult workers feed on aphid secretions. These secretions contain large amounts of sugar, which is converted into glycerol in the body.
Judging by the research of scientists, ants have no strict ban on leaving the anthill in winter. Insects simply move in those temperature zones where they will not freeze. But basically, this temperature is maintained only inside the nest. When the thaw comes, the anthill warms up, and the insects crawl to the outermost exits, and when the air temperature rises strongly, they open several exits and crawl to the surface. This often happens even in winter.
Males (as in the entire animal world, and there is no exception here) fertilize young females and die after mating. Well, the fate of the males is sad... The third category of members of the ant family is the most numerous and effective - workers. These are mainly females who cannot bear offspring. Since they do all the housework, they differ in size, sensitivity of their sensory organs, and activity.
The queen sometimes leaves the nest when laying eggs.
Their sphere of activity is varied: weaver ants, there are nannies (they look after young individuals), a significant part of the family is engaged in nest construction, forager ants are engaged in prey, there are cleaners, and stock keepers. An ant family can number hundreds of thousands of individuals, but at the same time they all work as a single organism.
And this cannot be surprising. If you decide to find out how ants overwinter in an anthill, then first of all it should be noted that anthills in cold regions are underground, which allows insects to withstand the most unfavorable environmental conditions, including low temperatures. During this period, insects operate in “economy” mode, and the reserves that were collected in the summer are enough for the entire colony.
Ants that have taken a fancy to a living space pose a serious problem. In addition to the negative feelings that arise from the mere awareness of the presence of these insects in the house, they pose a real threat to the health of residents, carrying dangerous diseases: dysentery, typhoid fever, diphtheria, etc. Ants are also unsafe for pets.
CONTACT WITH ANIMALS IS DANGEROUS OF PARASITE INFECTION!
How to properly treat a bitten area?
If you receive a bite or slight tingling from a cow, be sure to treat the area with special antiseptic agents. It can be:
- any cream for mosquito bites;
- chamomile decoction (pour 1 tbsp of chamomile flowers with a glass of boiling water);
- plantain decoction (50 g of leaves, pour 250 ml of water and boil).
In the first minutes, it is recommended to apply cold to the site of a severe bite to reduce irritation and absorption into the blood.
It is also necessary to apply antiallergic ointment, for example:
- Olokom;
- Streptoderm;
- Triderm.
If an allergic reaction occurs on the skin, be sure to take an antiallergic drug, for example, Loratadine. This will help avoid swelling.
If you feel nausea, vomiting, or the bite site is very swollen, consult a doctor immediately!
It is also recommended to cover the bite site with clothing or a sterile bandage.
This will prevent scratching and infection in the wound. Treat it daily with hydrogen peroxide and lubricate it with antiallergic ointment. If you still get an infection, you must use:
- anti-inflammatory ointments;
- brilliant green;
- fucorcin.
A sudden invasion of ladybugs indoors or in the garden also needs to be actively combated. At home you can use:
- dichlorvos;
- sticky fly tape;
- mosquito sprayer;
- pencil-chalk “Mashenka”.
In the autumn, when cows are looking for a place to winter, hordes of insects attack dark corners in the barn and house. Spray the floors, walls, and corners of the rooms with a mosquito repellent sprayer. Also, the insect does not like the smell of camphor and menthol. Mix one of these products with a little water and spray the liquid into the corners.
Prevention measures
Omnivorous ants feed on leftover food and waste. They spread infections and pathogenic bacteria.
To prevent the appearance of insects, it is necessary to observe hygiene standards:
- remove leftover food;
- take out the trash regularly;
- do not leave unwashed dishes;
- clean animal feeding areas and wash their dishes;
- Close containers for storing bulk products with airtight lids.
Insects do not tolerate the smell of certain herbs and vegetables: garlic, mint, elderberry.
Preventive measures are taken when at least one scout insect appears. You can set traps with baits containing boric acid.
If a nest starts, you need to use effective drugs.
The story of an injured bodybuilder
To understand how dangerous a ladybug bite is, you can read the story of the famous bodybuilder Rez Rezamand. At the age of 31, he went to the hospital in serious condition.
The doctors barely had time to provide him with immediate assistance. The fact is that he was bitten on the leg by a small ladybug, to which the athlete did not even pay attention. A few days later, Reza could no longer walk; his leg and fingers were swollen to incredible sizes! The wound from the bite became infected, the leg began to turn black, and sepsis began. After long days of therapy with strong antibiotics, doctors managed to save the athlete’s life and leg.
According to the doctors themselves, he was very lucky; 70% of such bites end in death. A timely request for help saved his life. The athlete himself recovered from his experience for a long time. He said he was “very lucky.” Reza Rezamand assured the doctors that he would never touch various insects, much less ladybugs, in his life.
As you can see, such a small and harmless ladybug can bite and is dangerous to humans. Teach your children and loved ones not to pick up unknown insects. This will save your health and life.
Timber factories
The smell of mushrooms is unique - a study by Russian mycologists showed that even among one species there are no specimens with absolutely identical aromatic components. Each is a real factory for the production of various chemicals - from alcohol and urea to medicines, poisons and drugs.
Eight-carbon alcohols and ketones are responsible for the unique smell of mushrooms. The content of the latter increases when dried, which is why people are so fond of adding dry mushrooms to various sauces and dishes. The hexahydric alcohol 3-hexanol is responsible for the pleasant smell of mushroom freshness.
Some mushrooms are deadly poisonous. Thus, the pale grebe produces the poison alpha-amanitin, which kills liver and kidney cells
If a person inadvertently eats such a mushroom, he will die in a few days from toxic hepatitis and cardiac arrest. In total, there are up to 150 species of poisonous mushrooms in Russian forests. Psilocybin mushrooms contain the substance psilocin, a natural analogue of LSD.
When consuming such mushrooms, a person experiences increased auditory and visual sensitivity, a feeling of distortion of space and time, impaired perception of speed, light and color, and euphoria
Psilocybin mushrooms contain the substance psilocin, a natural analogue of LSD. When consuming such mushrooms, a person experiences increased auditory and visual sensitivity, a feeling of distortion of space and time, impaired perception of speed, light and color, and euphoria.
Orientation by the sun and stars
To navigate by the Sun on a bright sunny day, you should wait until midday. At this time, the luminary is at its zenith, any shadow cast by objects becomes short. You should stand with your back to the luminary; the tourist’s shadow will indicate the direction to the north. The south will be behind the traveler. On his right hand there will be an eastern direction, on his left hand - a western direction.
In the off-season, on spring and autumn days, the sun will rise strictly in the east and set in the west. At noon in any season, the star is in the south and every shadow points to the north. On winter days, the sun will rise from the southeast and set from the southwest. On summer days, the sun will rise from the northeast and set from the northwest.
Any traveler has an idea of the constellations of his northern sky. Today, almost every schoolchild can find the stars Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in the sky. But although tourists may theoretically know that the North Star is the end star on the tail of Ursa Minor, finding it can be quite difficult. The advice to help with this is to find the two terminal stars in Ursa Major and mentally continue the line connecting them to the bright Polar Star. Standing facing it, the tourist will look north.
Table: determining parts of the world by the sun
Zombies are reality
David Hughes and a large team of scientists conducted an experiment to find out how the fungus turns ants into real zombies. The goal was to understand how Ophiocordyceps interacts with its host at the cellular level.
To do this, an ant was infected in laboratory conditions and was constantly monitored. The results were astounding and very frightening that such subjugation was actually happening.
In just a few weeks, the parasitic fungus literally turned the insect's cells into its own, with the brain practically untouched, but the muscular system was completely controlled by Ophiocordyceps.
Scientists believe that the very fact that the brain is intact is the real key to solving the puzzle: the parasitic fungus uses the potential of the host’s brain for so long that it remains alive and can easily find a suitable “platform” for the continuation of the parasite’s genus.
Despite the work done, scientists have not been able to get closer to the end and figure out exactly how the fungus subdues the insect, and this would be very helpful for the synthesis of biologically active compounds for medical purposes.
There is another interesting fact about Cordyceps lopsided; most often it kills the insect on a sunny afternoon. This may be due to the fact that the fungus uses sunlight to synchronize the last part of the infection, but this has not yet been proven for sure.
Codiceps can parasitize not only ants, but also other insects, although each species will have its own cordyceps and it parasitizes other insects differently.
Who knows, if a mushroom literally subjugates a living being, maybe such an end awaits humanity...
“Kinship” relationships
Ichneumas are an extremely diverse group of insects and perhaps the most poorly studied. The large family of aphelinids (800 species) is famous, since these parasites develop on aphids, scale insects and other plant pests. Like all egg eaters, aphelinids are very small, most less than 1 millimeter. The most surprising biological feature of aphelinids is sexual ditrophy. This means that male and female parasites develop as primary parasites, but on different hosts. This means that the mother must take care and find different owners for her sons and daughters.
Sometimes riders simplify the pattern. Then the males develop in the same host, but as secondary parasites... on sister females. Here we must imagine that the larva of the female ichneumon is an internal parasite, that is, it lives inside the host. And on this sister larva, on its cover, the male brother larva settles as an external parasite. But together they are parasites living inside a common host.
The group of ichneumon wasps includes 27 families and several thousand species. These are small, metallic-colored ichneumon parasites that parasitize the pupae of beetles and butterflies, puparia of flies, and the cocoons of other ichneumonids, such as ichneumonids. Thus, the brachymeria spangle develops in the caterpillars of the lacewing butterfly and the gypsy moth. Some shiners have an amazing feature: from one egg laid by the female in the body of the victim, several (and sometimes very many - several hundred) embryos develop. This phenomenon is called polyembryony (“many embryos”) and is necessary so that the tiny rider can effectively use the huge infected caterpillar as food.
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Trichogramma on an armyworm egg
In some parasitic parasites of eggs, the larvae have acquired a bizarre tail. With this tail they mix the contents of the host's egg to prevent it from developing. Such a larva deliberately “muddies the waters” and thus lives. Such larvae often develop in eggs and larvae of flies. When the host fly, skillfully restrained by the parasitic parasite, develops to the pupal stage, then it is eaten clean, and the parasites emerge from the fly puparia.
Distinctive features
Red fire ants
It is not difficult to distinguish dangerous ants from other species. They have a characteristic bright red color. Males are darker, almost black. Individuals do not differ in large size. The largest ant in the ant family is the queen. It can reach 6 mm. The remaining individuals grow on average 2-4 mm. Their size largely depends on the role of the ant in the life of the colony. Both large individuals and very tiny ones can live perfectly in one anthill.
Atta ants
Fire ants have a standard body structure, which consists of 3 parts:
- Heads.
- Breasts.
- Abdomen.
On the head of each individual there are powerful claws called mandibles. With their help, ants capture food, carry objects and even scare away enemies. Fire ants are very maneuverable. The complex structure of the eyes allows you to track the victim with great accuracy and control the situation around you. The body ends with a rather massive sting, with the help of which individuals inflict their dangerous bite.
This species has an impressively sized abdomen. Nature designed it this way so that individuals can quickly digest complex food. Also in this part all organs for reproduction are located.
Sources
- https://BeetleStop.ru/krasnyie-muravi/
- https://givotniymir.ru/ognennye-muravi-obraz-zhizni-i-sreda-obitaniya-ognennyx-muravyov/
- https://katuna.ru/ognennye-muravi
- https://web-zoopark.ru/samie_opasnie_zhivotnie/ognenniy_muravey.html
- https://fb.ru/article/253705/ognennyie-muravi-opisanie-i-foto
- https://vermins.net/muravi/krasnye-muravi.html
- https://notklop.ru/muravi/vidy-muravev/krasnye-muravi/
