common names: ladybirds, lady beetles, ladybugs
scientific name: (Insecta: Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)
However, other “Ladybugs” Coccinellidae includes a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from 0.03 to 0.71 inches (0.8 to 18 mm). The ladybugs originating in Western Europe have long been in the USA.
In the USA, this family of spotted beetles is commonly known as “ladybugs”. In Great Britain and other parts of the English-speaking world, these critters are commonly called “ladybirds”. (Actually, entomologists tend prefer the names “ladybird beetles” or “lady beetles” as these insects are not classified as “true bugs”. The irony of the name preference “ladybird beetles” is that these insects are also not birds.
Yet, “dragonflies” are neither “dragons”, nor “flies”. Indeed the same could said regarding “fireflies”, “stoneflies”, or “butterflies”, which all are true common names in folklore, not Latin names). My advice is simply use the folklore term “lady beetles” around the entomologists to keep them happy, and then use the term “ladybug” the rest of the time. Because the fact remains, that they not “human ladies” nor are the beetles always female.
Worldwide, there are nearly 6,000 known species of ladybugs, of which 105 have been spotted in my birth state, Florida, in the USA.
Ladybird is a name that has been used in England for more than 600 years for the European beetle Coccinella septempunctata. As knowledge about insects increased, the name became extended to all its relatives, members of the beetle family Coccinellidae. The name coccinellids is derived from the Latin word coccineus meaning "scarlet".
One species is known as:
Coccinella magnifica, Scarce seven-spot Ladybird Coccinella magnifica is a medium-sized to large ladybird at 6-8 mm in length. The elytra are mainly red, but with a small whitish area near the anterior border. There is usually a total of seven black spots, although five to eleven are recorded (see first two pictures below). The central spots are comparatively large and the foremost spots are comparatively small. The pronotum is black with antero-lateral white marks. The legs of Coccinella magnifica are black. Coccinella magnifica is a medium-sized to large ladybird at 6-8 mm in length. The elytra are mainly red, but with a small whitish area near the anterior border. There is usually a total of seven black spots, although five to eleven are recorded (see first two pictures below). The central spots are comparatively large and the foremost spots are comparatively small. The pronotum is black with antero-lateral white marks. The legs of Coccinella magnifica are black. Quote from Coccinella magnifica Scarce seven-spot Ladybird”
Actually, the “lady” for whom these beetles were named was the Madonna, aka the “BVM” herself, mother of God. In some art work, the Madonna was often depicted wearing a red cloak in early painted depictions, and the spots of the seven-spot ladybug (the most common in Europe) were said to symbolize her seven joys and seven sorrows. As stated in the quote above Coccinella magnifica often is marked with “seven black spots”, although Mother Nature loves variation, Christians would have embraced the idea these seven black spots marked the little creature as representing the “seven stars on the Crown of Immortality of Our Lady of the Angels” as well as being reminicent of the “Seven Sorrows” and “Seven Joys” in the life of the BVM.
The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Seven Joys of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The common names of the this critter in other European languages have the similar associations (the German name Marienkafer translates to "Marybeetle").
Yet among the connections of USA poetry, prose, and folklore common references to “ladybug”, perhaps the most familiar in English being the old chant:
Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home,
Your house is on fire,
Your children might burn.
November 9, 2021