Warm weather brings out the insects, and gardeners across the region are keeping an eye on their plants in case aphids, whiteflies, and other critters try to set up shop.

However, one group of insects that many welcome are the ladybugs, a variety of beetles in the family Coccinellidae. In spite of their colorful, friendly appearance, ladybugs are ferocious predators that can decimate a colony of aphids in a matter of hours.

This time of year you’re as likely to see larvae as adults. We’re used to seeing the shiny black-spotted, red domed elytra that cover the backs and delicate hind wings of adult ladybugs. The larvae are almost unrecognizable as the same species, resembling small, tapered black worms with a variety of orange spots and jagged black spines on their dorsal sides. In both cases, the black and red or orange coloration is a form of aposematism, a warning to predators that these insects taste bad and may even be toxic if consumed.’The Pacific Northwest is home to several species of ladybug, and a few in particular are common in the Columbia-Pacific region. The convergent lady beetle (Hippodamia convergens) is one of the most plentiful native species. They are dark orange to red with a dozen black spots of varying sizes, and two characteristic white spots on their thorax, along with a white outline. Its lesser-seen cousin the sorrowful lady beetle (Hippodamia moesta) inverts the expected color scheme, being solid black except for two red spots at the ends of its elytra and a pair of white thorax spots. If you see a red ladybug with no black spots at all, that’s the western polished lady beetle (Cycloneda polita), another native species.

Unfortunately, these native ladybugs have some competition from invasive species. The seven-spotted ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata) — which does, in fact, have seven black spots on its red back — was brought over from Europe in the 1970s to control aphids in North America. It has since become widespread and has pushed native ladybugs out of their habitats.

Even more pernicious is the Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis), a variable species that may be any of a number of shades of red, orange, or black with varying numbers of spots. However, it is distinguished from other species by a longer thorax and head, and most have a white M or W shape where the elytra meet the back of the thorax. Where native ladybug larvae are black with a few small orange spots, the black larvae of the Asian lady beetle has two orange stripes running down its back. Not only do Asian lady beetles outcompete native ladybugs, but they are the species known for swarming into people’s homes in fall — and they bite!

For decades, gardeners have been able to buy quarts of ladybugs to release into their gardens to control pests. These have often been collected from wild areas and shipped across the country, which deprives collection sites of their natural numbers, and the shipped insects can introduce diseases to local ladybugs wherever they’re released.

More ladybugs mean more competition for the resident population, especially if you have multiple people in a given neighborhood each releasing hundreds of ladybugs each year. And while the native convergent ladybug is the species most often available for sale in the United States, Asian lady beetles used to be the bug of choice, and continue to cause problems for ecosystems across the country.

The best thing to do is to create a welcoming environment for local ladybugs. Pesticides and other chemicals are toxic to insects and can cause massive fatalities across multiple species, not just the targeted pests. Plain grass lawns are essentially ecological wastelands, so having a varied garden with lots of plants, especially native plants, offers more to ladybugs and other beneficial species.

Learning to identify which ladybug species show up in your yard not only helps you monitor who’s who, but also adds depth to your knowledge of local nature.

Rebecca Lexa is a naturalist, eco-educator, nature tour guide and writer in the Pacific Northwest, and is the author of “The Everyday Naturalist: How to Identify Animals, Plants, and Fungi Wherever You Go” Ten Speed Press, June 2025. Find more about her work at rebeccalexa.com.