• Home
  • About Alex Wild
  • Articles
  • Galleries
  • Myrmecology News

Myrmecos Blog

the little things matter

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« WebMD Taxonomy Fail
Friday Beetle Blogging: An Obscure Rove Beetle »

Eastern North America is the Asian Lady Beetle’s Bridge to the World

March 18, 2010 by myrmecos

Harmonia axyridis, the Asian Multicolored Lady Beetle

If I had to pick the most annoying insect in Illinois it’d be Harmonia axyridis. This lady beetle was introduced to our continent as a control agent for aphids but became a pest in its own right. It consumes not just aphids but all manner of other insects, including beneficials like native lady beetles. Swarms of them descend into our houses in the fall. They get just about everywhere. They have a noxious odor. And they bite.

A study out in PLoS One byLombaert et al has determined that our local beetles here in eastern North America are the culprit behind a spate of recent invasions elsewhere in the world. The researchers extracted DNA from 18 loci across the various populations, modeled several different introduction scenarios, and concluded that one story makes the observed genetic data the most likely.  It’s this one:

Figure 1 from Lombaert et al 2010 showing the most likely path of introductions of H. axyridis.

The authors call this result “surprising”, but I disagree. If a pest builds to enormous numbers in a region that sees a lot of commerce, exports of that pest may become much more likely than exports from the native range. Especially if native populations are kept down by predators and competition.

We see this in ants all the time.  The invasive Argentine ants in California arrived from an earlier invasion to the eastern U.S., not as a separate colonization from Argentina.  Fire ants in Australia appear to be from the United States, not South America.

In any case, it’s an interesting and timely study. Now, if they could just figure out where I can send the beetles in my house so they don’t come back, that’d be really valuable.


source: Lombaert E, Guillemaud T, Cornuet J-M, Malausa T, Facon B, et al. 2010 Bridgehead Effect in the Worldwide Invasion of the Biocontrol Harlequin Ladybird. PLoS ONE 5(3): e9743. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0009743

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in beetles, Science | Tagged biological invasions, ecology, Harmonia, invasive species | 11 Comments

11 Responses

  1. on March 18, 2010 at 11:19 am James C. Trager

    It’s the most annoying insect in Missouri, too. It’s kind of apples and oranges to compare them, but I’d even venture they’re worse than mosquitos, all things considered. At least slapped mosquitos make good food for ants, and they don’t stink!


  2. on March 18, 2010 at 11:33 am Erik

    I’ve been finding these ladybugs in my house. How do they get in there? Why do they come inside in the first place? I’m having this problem now in Boston but my house back in Seattle used to get hordes of ladybugs inside the windows during spring and summer too. Very frustrating.


  3. on March 18, 2010 at 11:36 am usagizero

    A couple years ago, i was at my parents house in central Wisconsin, and they had a building that had one side of it covered in these. Sadly i didn’t have a camera.


  4. on March 18, 2010 at 12:29 pm Warren

    Send them to hell? Just kidding; I like these little bastards. Here in central Alberta, when the frozen grip of winter begins to thaw, these critters on my windows are the first signs of invertebrate life, and they cheer with the hope that winter, someday, will end.


    • on March 31, 2010 at 6:34 pm Smonster

      You know Warren I was reading all the posts about I HATE these things, I was thinking YES, let’s annihilate these guys, Yeah! …and then I read your post. LOL love it! Thank you.


  5. on March 18, 2010 at 1:17 pm TGIQ

    They have my vote as Second Most Annoying Insect, outranked by The Most Annoying Insect, Cluster Flies (Pollenia rudis). Both bug bastards invade my home every spring and fall, and really, don’t ever entirely leave. Ever. The flies win because they crap everywhere.


  6. on March 18, 2010 at 2:02 pm MrILoveTheAnts

    Why are they still legally being sold in the US? Shouldn’t the unsustainable concept of mono-cultural farming be allowed to die? It’s not like lady bugs are important for cereal crops, right?


  7. on March 18, 2010 at 2:55 pm Ani

    Most widespread in southern Ontario, too. They are out of hibernation and invading homes again!


  8. on March 18, 2010 at 2:57 pm Kai

    I agree that these are annoying and unwanted. Just another failure in exotic species introduction.


  9. on March 19, 2010 at 2:38 am Marvin

    Here in the Ozarks, I’d have to rank M-CALBs third behind ticks and chiggers. I did find the information in your post “interesting”, though.


  10. on July 15, 2010 at 6:54 pm Walker Jones

    Now we have the South American stink bug, Piezodorus guildinii. This major pest of soybeans in Brazil has long been known in the U.S., from Florida to New Mexico, with never a mention as a pest. However, in the last few years, it has suddenly become the number one pest of soybeans from South Carolina to Louisiana. Major changes in cropping patterns? Maybe. New invasions of different genotypes? Researchable with molecular studies — in progress.



Comments are closed.


  • This blog is an archive; the Myrmecos blog has moved.

    Please update your bookmarks!
  • Alex’s Galleries

    alexanderwild.com

  • Recent Photos

    DarkQue bonito trabajo el de la Luna...iluminar vidas cuando andan a oscuras.Elephant HeadEastern Coyote, Southern OntarioWindowsジュエリーアイス
    More Photos
  • Biology Links

    • Tree of Life
    • Understanding Evolution
  • Blogroll

    • Ainsley Vs Livejournal
    • Ammonite
    • Anna’s Bee World
    • Archetype
    • Arthropoda blog
    • Backyard Arthropod Project
    • Beetles in the Bush
    • biodiversity in focus
    • Bug Dreams
    • Bug Eric
    • Bug Girl’s Blog
    • Burrard-Lucas Photoblog
    • Catalogue of Organisms
    • Creature Cast
    • Dan Heller
    • Debbie's Insect Blog
    • Dechronization
    • Drawing the MotMot
    • Entomoblog
    • Evolving Thoughts
    • Fall to Climb
    • Generant
    • Historias de Hormigas
    • Life on Six Legs
    • Macromite
    • microecos
    • mirmekolozi
    • myrmecoid
    • Myrmician
    • Natural Imagery
    • Nature in the Ozarks
    • NCSU Insect Blog
    • No Cropping Zone
    • omit needless words
    • Photo Synthesis
    • Princess Peppercloud
    • Science Blogs
    • Snail’s Tales
    • Stu Jenks
    • The Ant Hunter
    • The Ant Room
    • The Bug Whisperer
    • The Loom
    • This Week in Evolution
    • What's Bugging You?
    • Wild about Ants
    • Xenogere
  • Insect Links

    • Ant Farm Forum
    • Ant Insights
    • Antweb
    • Bug Squad
    • bugguide.net
    • Xerces Society
  • Photography Links

    • Canon Photography Forums
    • Digital Photography Review
    • DIY Photography
    • Igor Siwanowicz
    • Mark Plonsky
    • photo.net
    • Piotr Naskrecki
    • The Strobist
  • Popular Posts

    • How to Identify Queen Ants
    • Must we call them meat ants?
    • What does it mean to be an eyeless ant?
    • Ant Metamorphosis
    • Ants as seed dispersers - part 2
    • Mystery Myrmecophile
    • The Odorous House Ant, Tapinoma sessile
    • Specimen Request: Army/leafcutter/bullet ant queens for morphometrics
    • Friday Beetle Blogging: Dendroides Larva
    • How to Identify the Argentine Ant, Linepithema humile
  • Recent Posts

    • This blog has moved.
    • Friday Beetle Blogging: The Hollyhock Weevil
    • The Friday Beetle will be late…
    • Bed bugs reach an all-time high
    • Answer to the Monday Night Mystery
  • Recent Comments

    • Donald Byron Johnson on Reader question: who discovered the sex of ant workers?
    • Anonymous on Update on the Rogue Taxonomist
    • Ant on Arizona Daily Star covers “Planet of the Ants”
    • Ga. Girl on Beware the Cow-Killer
    • Anonymous on Beware the Cow-Killer
  • Categories

  • Archives

  • animation Ants aphids arachnids Argentina arizona army ants art Bees beetles behavior biodiversity biology Biology Links bugs Canon carabidae coleoptera copyright Darwin desert diptera E. O. Wilson ecology entomology Evolution fail fire ants Flies formicidae genetics google haiku Harpegnathos imaging Insect Links Insects invasive species lighting Linepithema macro macrophotography macro photography Martialis media miniscule muppets music myrmecology mystery natural history Nature new species odontomachus Parasites Paratrechina pests pheidole Photography Photography business photoshop phylogenetics phylogeny Pogonomyrmex politics predation Scarabaeidae Science SEM social insects spiders Taxonomy termites travel wasps
  • Nature Blog Network
    Add to Technorati Favorites

    Follow this blog

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Myrmecos Blog
    • Join 91 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Myrmecos Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: