|
Have you
spotted a transverse ladybug, one of the
lost lady beetles ARS is seeking?
Photo
courtesy of Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado
State University, Bugwood.org.
|
ARS Scientists
and Cooperators Surveying for Rare Ladybugs
By
Don Comis
September 18, 2008
Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) scientists and
cooperators are seeking the public's help in
surveying for once-common ladybug species that
are now hard to find.
Researchers
with ARS,
Cornell University at Ithaca, N.Y., and South
Dakota State University (SDSU) in
Brookings want people to photograph every
ladybug possible, and to send the photos to
Cornell so researchers can inventory the
insects. In particular, the scientists are
looking for rare species, such as the
nine-spotted, two-spotted and transverse lady
beetles.
These beetles
were common 20 years ago, but have become
harder to find in the past few decades. There
are more than 400 ladybug species native to
North America, but some have become extremely
rare, displaced perhaps by development,
pesticides, non-native species and other
factors.
Entomologist
Louis Hesler at the ARS North Central
Agricultural Research Laboratory
in Brookings is particularly interested in the
nine-spotted, two-spotted and transverse
ladybugs because the farm community in South
Dakota where he works has depended on these
predatory beetles for years to eat insect
pests that eat farm crops.
Urban gardeners
are interested in ladybugs because they
protect garden crops as well. Ladybugs also
protect North American forests.
In a survey
this past summer, Hesler and colleague Mike
Catangui, an entomologist at SDSU in
Brookings, found 1,000 ladybugs, but only
about 10 each of the three rare species.
Hesler and Catangui are co-principal
investigators in the SDSU part of the "Lost
Ladybug Project."
The project has
two facets: the research component, which
Hesler, Catangui, and other scientists in New
York State are participating in, and the
citizen science component.
As part of the
citizen science part of the project,
researchers are encouraging participation from
students who are interested in entomology,
agriculture or science.
Those wishing
to participate can visit
www.lostladybug.org for tips on finding
and photographing ladybugs and submitting
photos. The website includes ways to track and
map the Lost Ladybug data.
