Ladybugs invade campus

by Megan Kuhn
FOR THE POST

They are Les betes du bon Dieu, the creatures of the good god, as the French would say. But when it comes to the Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle, commonly known as the ladybug, some Ohio University students would beg to differ.

"At first we liked the ladybugs, but it's kind of annoying because they're everywhere," said OU freshman Tiffany Bukoffsky, a Pickering Hall resident. "They're taking over our window and we don't want to kill them. One day we killed a whole lot with a flyswatter, but they came back."

The insect also is known as the Halloween Lady Beetle, said Linda Blazier, program assistant to the Agriculture and Natural Resources department at Ohio State University.

"That's due to its yellow-orange pumpkin color and large populations around Oct. 31," she said.

The Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle is actually in Athens year-round. During the summer, the ladybugs live in trees, but from October to November they seek warmer shelter.

Once thought to be extinct, ladybugs first appeared in Ohio in late October 1992, according to the OSU Extension. Ladybugs do not bite, but do pinch and play dead according to Entomology Notes, a publication of the Michigan Entomological Society (http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/MES/notes/entnotes6.html).

Insecticides are not recommended to exterminate ladybugs because the bugs should leave voluntarily in a few weeks, according to a news release from OSU's Athens County Extension. Some OU students, however, do recommend spraying to eliminate the ladybug problem.

"My roommate and I started screaming, she started flipping out," said OU sophomore Shannon Kerr, a Fenzel Hall resident. "We ran to get the RA, who got the maintenance guy and made him spray until they were dead. It was really gross, so I made some kid clean them up. He flicked them out the window."

OU junior Hillary Bates said the ladybug problem, though annoying, is easily solved. Bates simply collects the ladybugs and takes them outside.