Olga Sergeevna Arefyeva
District competition of research works and creative projects of preschoolers
"I-RESEARCHER"
"The secrets of a ladybug"
Researcher: Yanukov Nikita 4g. middle group "Bees"
Supervisor: tutor Arefieva Olga Sergeevna
Introduction
This summer in our territory kindergarten there were many beautiful little bugs - ladybirds. It was interesting to watch them. I often caught a ladybird, planted it on my hand and admired it. And then he sentenced:
"Ladybird, fly away to heaven,
There your kids eat candy
One by one
And you no one.
And the ladybug really flew away, as if she understood me.
And recently I saw a ladybug on a window in my room, she could barely crawl on the glass, it surprised me: how in the middle of winter did a ladybug end up on the window?
I addressed this question to the teacher. Olga Sergeevna suggested that I play young researchers and reveal all the secrets of this lovely bug.
purpose of my work: learn as much as possible about ladybug.
Tasks:
1. Collect information about the ladybug.
2. Find out why ladybug is so called.
3. Watch a ladybug in nature.
4. Learn the features of a ladybug.
I wanted to find out: why they call her a “cow”, although she doesn’t look like a cow at all, why does “God”, did she come down from the sky?
Main part.
1 hypothesis.Suppose that the name ladybug is associated with God and is an animal that gives milk.
From the encyclopedia "Insects" we learned that the name "God", is most likely due to the fact that this bug gives the impression of a good creature.
The word "god" has long been called good, harmless people, the ladybug is also harmless.
And they are called cows because they know how to distinguish "milk", though not white, but orange.
Thus, we came to the conclusion that our assumption is true in half: the name of a ladybug is associated with God, but is not an animal that gives milk.
Looking at my bugs, I noticed that there were two little black spots on their backs. But on the window of my grandmother live cows with seven points. Are they older than mine? It turns out, the old grandmother means her bugs are already old?
2 hypothesis.I decided how many points on the wings of a cow, and how old she is.
After studying the literature, Olga Sergeyevna and I learned that this was not true. The dots do not speak about the age of the cows, but about what species they belong to. Ladybug happens with five points, sometimes eleven, and it can even be points, and blots.
From the Internet, we learned that mostly bright red seven-point ladybirds live here.
So, we have learned that the points on the wings of ladybirds are not age, but a kind of bug.
When I took the ladybird in my hand, it froze, and a small yellow speck appeared on my hand, as we already found out its milk. I wondered what it tasted like. While mom did not see, I tried it. It turned out the milk is very bitter.
I asked my tutor, why does a cow have milk, is it tasteless?
3 hypothesis. I thought that cows need milk to feed babies.
We studied the encyclopedia again and found out that in case of danger the beetle, with its legs and antennae tucked in, falls to the ground. It is like a nervous shock, a way to protect against enemies. You can check, turn the bug on your back and slightly press on the abdomen, we see how it numb, how orange drops stand out.
A bird or spider is enough to try once to remember well - it is inedible. Usually after this the predator not only leaves the cow alone, but also remembers that it is inedible.
Even spiders do not touch ladybirds. If the other bugs that hit them in the net are eaten right away, the spider immediately puts the ladybird out of the door, pushing it with the blows of its front paws.
We found out that the ladybird's milk is not food, but a way of protection.
Since my bugs have been sitting in a can for a long time, I decided to feed them. Putting them cabbage leaves and bread crumbs, I waited for what they would eat, but they were not interested in either bread or cabbage. Then I put them a piece of apple, which immediately attracted them.
I wondered, but what do ladybugs eat?
With this question I came to kindergarten.
4 hypothesis.I decided that a ladybug eats fruit
And again we looked at the encyclopedia.
It turns out that a ladybug is a predator, but useful. Cows eat aphids.
Aphid is an insect sucking sap from a plant, after which the plant dies. It is slow and weak, so the cow does not need a special device to hunt it.
Ladybugs are not shy, so you can watch them eat. Despite the fact that they are small, they have a good appetite - every day they need about fifty aphids.
When the aphids are scarce and the ladybugs are hungry, beware of everything around, they bite everyone - even a person, but in order to find out if it is good for food.
We concluded that ladybugs are useful in agriculture, as they eat aphids.
One day when we went out for a walk with a group, we noticed something red in the crack near the window, we decided to see what it was. When we arrived, we saw a bunch of ladybirds.
I immediately ran to Olga Sergeyevna with a question: what are they doing on the street in winter, why did they not fly away to warm countries? Maybe they did not have time?
5 hypothesis.I assumed that all the ladybugs in the winter fly to warm countries.
I learned from Olga Sergeyevna that not all the cows fly for wintering. Those who remain to spend the winter hiding under the bark of the trees, under the needles and in the cracks of houses.
That's probably why I met these amazing bugs in my window, which snuck into my warm room.
And I learned that the ladybug is in the red book. They were not enough, because people struggle with aphids with chemicals, because of the lack of food, the cows die.
When I take a ladybird in my hand, I often tell her a poem
ladybug
I sat on a finger.
Ladybug,
Where are you flying?
And where, baby,
Are you in a hurry now?
Soon the finger is over,
You and fly away.
Shell Wings
Fun straightened.
Play you with me
How to make?
I made the following conclusions:
the name of a ladybug is associated with God, but is not an animal that gives milk;
points on the wings of ladybirds are not age, but a kind of bug;
ladybirds have good protection against predators - in case of danger they emit a caustic yellow substance with unpleasant smell and taste;
ladybug - a predator, it eliminates plants from insects - pests.
I discovered a lot of secrets from the life of a little bug.
I will share my knowledge with friends. I hope that I still learn a lot about the ladybug.
Bibliography
1. Encyclopedia "In the world of wildlife", 2013.
2. Children's Encyclopedia: Insects / Comp. P. R. Lyakhov. “Publishing house AST”, 2000.
3. Materials from sites:
http://i-fakt.ru/
https://natworld.info/zhivotnye/fakty-o-bozhih-korovkah
In the name of these beetles belonging to the family Coccinellidae, there is a divine beginning - “ladybugs”.
It appeared in medieval Europe, when farmers who prayed for the protection of their harvests received salvation in the form of small red or orange beetles with hard spotted wings. According to legend, the most common number of dots on the front wings of ladybirds - seven - symbolizes the seven joys and seven sorrows of the Virgin Mary.
A distinctive feature of the ladybirds, as a full representative of the Coleoptera order, is hardened front wings that protect insects. They can be of various colors - from yellow and red to brown and gray, and decorated with several black dots, most often seven such points.
There is a common misconception that the number of black specks on the wings of a ladybug can tell how much she lived. This is only partly true, since with age the points on the wings of ladybirds become smaller, but it is difficult to determine this age from them.
In their development, ladybirds go through a complete cycle of transformations - first the eggs are laid, they turn into larvae, then the pupa stage goes, which is transformed into an imago.
Imago (adult insect) is the most recent and longest stage, which can last for several months, the remaining stages of its development a ladybug passes in just a few days. An insect that has just turned from a pupa into an adult requires only a few hours for its front wings to harden and acquire their usual bright spotted coloration.
Larvae and adults who are constantly searching for food have the greatest appetite for this cycle - aphids, Colorado potato beetles eggs and even the larvae and eggs of their relatives, in cases when there is not enough normal food.
To lay eggs, ladybugs should eat a large number of aphids - for adults it is several hundred, and for larvae two or three hundred insects per day. A hungry larva in search of food can go up to twelve meters - a tremendous distance for these creatures. Useful additives to the diet of ladybirds are mold and pollen.
Thanks to their food preferences, ladybugs became the best friends of farmers in the fight against pests - aphids and Colorado beetles. The most active period for the extermination of aphids - from spring to late autumn, in winter, ladybirds climb under the fallen leaves, tree bark or stones and wait for the next spring there. Depending on the availability of food, these insects live from several months to a year, and very rarely up to two years.
Young individuals always have a bright color, which gradually fades with age, while remaining a sufficiently convincing warning for predators who want to encroach on the life of an insect.
One more effective method protection - poisonous sharply smelling yellow liquid, which ladybugs secrete from the joints of the legs. It scares off their main enemies - spiders, frogs and some insects that feed on ladybirds. Birds and other vertebrates do not hunt ladybirds.
“Little bug with black dots” is the name of ladybird in Vladimir Dahl’s “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language”. But is it? And what other secrets does this insect have?
A small bug, flat at the bottom and convex at the top, as if a ball was cut in half, with red elytra, on which 7 points stand out in black drops. This is how we know the classic seven-point ladybug.
MYTH 1. ALL THE COWS ARE EQUAL
In fact, there are so many types of ladybugs and they are so little similar to each other that it is often difficult to guess that the insect you have encountered is a scarlet bug. These bugs can be yellow, orange, brown, black and even blue, and the points are not necessarily black, but ... red, yellow or white. In general, the points may not be. Instead, stripes, spots and even commas will appear on the sheaths. Not only this, in cows of the same species, but originating from different localities, the coloring may differ. And its brightness also depends on age.
MYTH 2. HOW MANY POINTS ARE ON THE MOTCH, MANY AND YEARS OF THE COW
The number of points for ladybirds varies from 2 to 28, depends only on the species and is not associated with age. In a temperate climate, the life expectancy of most of them is less than a year, and only a few live to two years under favorable conditions.
MYTH 3. GOD-COATS ARE EATED ONLY BY AIRES
Adult beetles and larvae of the cows feed on the larvae and adult aphids, hedgehogs, whiteflies, scutes, patties, worms, spider mites, as well as the eggs of many plant-damaging insects and mites, small caterpillars and pupae. Their daily ration may include from 150 to 800 different pests!
Ladybird larvae are great hunters. These variegated (with yellow, red or crimson dots against a dark background) creatures are very active and can crawl over long distances. But more often they can be seen walking around among the colonies of aphids, where they choose their lunch with dignity. During the summer, 1–2 generations develop in cows, therefore, where several of their species live, the active period of extermination of pests stretches from spring to late autumn.
MYTH 4. THESE BEERS ARE POISON
Despite the predatory nature, ladybirds are absolutely not dangerous for us. True, there are still a few cases when they bit people. This usually happened during the years of their mass reproduction, during flights in search of free territory and most often near water bodies. Perhaps the beetles took people for the predators that attacked them and defended themselves. There is also a hypothesis that cows are attracted to human sweat - they are “drawn to salty”.
In addition, ladybugs on contact can release a protective fluid that irritates the skin and can create a bite sensation.
MYTH 5. ALL COWS ARISE TO THE GARDEN
In fact, not all ladybirds are predators. Some species are not only vegetarians, but also dangerous pests. For example, in Central Asia, melons, cucumbers and pumpkins harm gourd ladybug. It eats away the ovaries, gnaws the flesh in the fruit and leaves full of holes. Its larvae do the same. The 28-point potato ladybird is close to it - potato pest (in the Far East - not better than the Colorado potato beetle!), Tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables.
In the southern regions of Russia, an alfalfa damages alfalfa and sugar beets. And in the Smolensk, Saratov and some other areas of central Russia and the south of Russia, the bestechechnaya ladybird harms: it feeds on clover, alfalfa and clover.
However, herbivorous cows are few and their harm is nothing compared to the benefits of the activities of their predatory relatives, the natural defenders of plants.
SIXTHE ASSISTANTS
I heard that it is useful to specially collect the ladybirds and run them to my site. And somewhere they even sell them. Is it true?
To use ladybugs for pest control is a good idea. But it has some limitations. First of all, such live helpers can be used only if large quantities of pests have multiplied and threaten to plant: if there is no food, the number of cows will quickly fall. In addition, you will have to severely restrict the use or even completely abandon chemical pesticides.
The most effective ladybugs in closed ground - in greenhouses, greenhouses, winter gardens and even in residential areas and offices, where the use of pesticides is undesirable, and the freedom of movement of beetles is significantly limited.
BTW
Abroad, ladybirds can be purchased at garden centers or ordered by mail. Most often, their eggs are sold in special jute sacks, which are conveniently hung on plants inhabited by pests. The larvae come out of the eggs and immediately begin to hunt.
If you want to release cows brought from somewhere in the garden, then it is better to do it when the temperature consistently exceeds +10 ° C. And in order for the settlers to live with you, create suitable conditions for them. Keep in your garden a few islands of dandelion, yarrow, tansy, sweet clover, chamomile. Plant a red elderberry behind the fence - these plants attract aphids and, accordingly, retain cows at the site.
It is also useful to spread out on the site special houses that mimic the natural wintering place of these insects. These houses can be made from old logs, in which holes are drilled or the middle is taken out. It is desirable to have them in warm and sheltered places, near plants exposed to aphids.
And the last. Be prepared for the fact that ladybugs do not kill all the enemies of plants. After all, if they do not, what will their offspring eat? A small part of the pests cows always leave "for divorce." And the modern concept of plant protection says that the task of using beneficial insects is not to completely destroy the pests, but to control their numbers.
Once a familiar artist, who took my “pictorial talents” under his care, insisted that on the back of a ladybug we must draw six points without fail. Even at that moment I guessed that it was not quite so. In childhood, we even believed that the number of points on the wings indicates the age of the ladybird.
Later it turned out that the ladybirds (Latin Coccinellidae) in the world - more than 1000 species. They live in different places: one liked the plants that aphids are found in (these are probably the laziest, or better to say, pragmatic - the food is always close by), others have looked after the indescribable beauty of the grass, the third liked the meadows with a view on the stream, some preferred to settle down on aquatic plants altogether.
The most common species, it turns out, is a seven-point ladybug (Cine cinella septempunctata). Her black breast is decorated with a whitish spot in the front corner, on the red sheaths - seven black dots (three on each sheath and one common shield). It is found in Europe, North Africa, Asia and eats aphids.
According to the ladybird atlas, you may encounter a ladybug with the number of spots from two to twenty-six.
This is how a ladybug with two points (Adalia bipunctata) looks like.
It is curious that it is this ladybird that was approved by the Latvian national insect in 1991 by the Latvian Entomology Society. It is useful, in its nature it is slow, but this does not prevent it from defending well, precisely because of its appearance and behavior, it is so loved in Latvia. In Latvian, it is called marite, this is the name of the ancient Latvian deity Mara, which embodies earthly power.
And so - with 22 points (Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata).
Recently, I read about the amazing cow (Ailocaria hexaspilota Hope), the drawing on the sheaths of which is really worthy of surprise and philosophical treatises. This type of cow can be found here only in the south of the Far East. She lives first in the bird cherry tree, and by the end of May she moves to the Manchurian nut. He likes to eat leaf beetles. It is also surprising that flocks of amazing cows accumulate during the wintering period. Imagine how beautiful it turns out!
How many points would decorate the back of a ladybug, it is beautiful to the envy of all insects and to the joy of people. Let's pay attention to these wonderful creatures!
School of Life
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