Ladybug Sex on My Hand – More Than Just Ladybug Sex on Your Hand

When people whine about the junk that makes it big on YouTube these days, they might want to consider this one: “Ladybug sex on my hand.” The 34-second video is just as silly as it sounds, but it has received more than 1.7 million views and spawned 3,000 deep, meaningful comments. That’s because it’s about more than just ladybug sex; it’s also about what happens when you turn your camera on a population of them in the wild.

The video’s creator, Seattle resident Leonard Davis, is a reproductive entomologist. He’s also an amateur videographer who’s made a name for himself capturing the life of insects, including these colorful multi-legged beetles.

He stumbled upon a large group of ladybugs in a forest clearing while filming for his popular “Ladybug Evolution” series. Davis explains that these gatherings, called aggregations, are common among certain species of ladybugs. They are essentially social gatherings where females, which cannot mate on their own, go to take care of business.

As a result, the group acts as a deterrent to predators, which see the mass of ladybugs and assume that they are bad-tasting. The numbers can also magnify the warning signal broadcast by their color, according to scientists. The insects may even produce a smelly liquid from their joints to make themselves unappetizing to skunks and birds.

Unlike other beetles, a ladybug’s wings are not flat; instead, they’re folded like origami to fit inside their shells. As they molt during the larval stage, their wings expand and contract. In addition, a ladybug produces a sticky fluid from its leg joints that can be used to deter predators or attract mates.

To see the whole ladybug life cycle, try finding a plant that’s infested with aphids and searching for eggs and larvae. After the larvae eat their way through the aphids, they molt four times and become black with yellow spots, ready to pupate on leaves or other surfaces. Then, they attach themselves to the underside of leaves and transform into adult ladybugs.