Lady Bird Johnson
First Lady of the United States
In office November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969
Preceded by	Jackie Kennedy
Succeeded by	Pat Nixon
Second Lady of the United States
In office January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
Preceded by	Pat Nixon
Succeeded by	Muriel Buck Humphrey
Personal details
Born	(1912-12-22)December 22, 1912 Karnack, Texas, U.S.
Died	July 11, 2007(2007-07-11) (aged 94) West Lake Hills, Texas, U.S.
Resting place	Johnson Family Cemetery Stonewall, Texas
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Lyndon B. Johnson
Children	Lynda and Luci
Alma mater	University of Texas
Occupation	First Lady of the United States, entrepreneur
Religion	Episcopalian
Signature

Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson (December 22, 1912 – July 11, 2007)^[1] was First Lady of the United States (1963-69) during the presidency of her husband Lyndon B. Johnson.

Notably well educated for her time, she proved a capable manager and a shrewd investor. After marrying LBJ in 1934, when he was a political hopeful in Austin, Texas, she used a modest inheritance to bankroll his congressional campaign, and then ran his office while he was serving in the Navy. Next, she bought a radio station and then a TV station, which would soon make them millionaires. As First Lady, she broke new ground by liaising directly with Congress, employing her own press secretary, and making a solo electioneering tour.

Johnson was a lifelong advocate for beautifying the nation's cities and highways ("Where flowers bloom, so does hope") and the Highway Beautification Act was informally known as Lady Bird's Bill. She was a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest US civilian honors.

Early life[link]

A portrait of Lady Bird Taylor at about age three

The Brick House, Lady Bird Johnson's birthplace and childhood home in Karnack, Texas.

Claudia Alta Taylor was born in Karnack, Texas, a town in Harrison County, near the state's border with Louisiana.^[2] Her birthplace was "The Brick House," an antebellum plantation mansion on the outskirts of town, which her father had purchased shortly before her birth.^[3] Nearly all of both her maternal and paternal forebears had arrived in the Virginia Colony during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Her father was a native of Alabama and primarily of English ancestry with small amounts of Welsh and Danish; her mother was also a native of Alabama and of English and Scottish descent.^{[citation needed]}

Though she was named for her mother's brother Claud,^[4] during her infancy, her nurse, Alice Tittle,^[5][6] commented, she was as "purty as a ladybird,"^[7][8] which is a brightly colored beetle.^[5] That nickname virtually replaced her actual first name for the rest of her life. Her father and siblings called her Lady,^[9] though her husband called her Bird, which is the name she used on her marriage license. During her teenage years, her schoolmates had called her Bird, though mockingly, since she reportedly was not fond of the name.^[9] Her father was Thomas Jefferson Taylor (August 29, 1874 – October 22, 1960), a sharecropper's son who became a wealthy businessman and the owner of 15,000 acres (6,070 ha) of cotton and two general stores. "My father was a very strong character, to put it mildly," his daughter once said. "He lived by his own rules. It was a whole feudal way of life, really."^[6]

Her mother was the former Minnie Lee Pattillo (1874–1918), an opera lover who felt out of place in Karnack and who was often in "poor emotional and physical health."^[4] When Lady Bird was five years old, Minnie, while pregnant, fell down a flight of stairs and died of complications after miscarrying.^[4] In a profile of Lady Bird Johnson, Time magazine described Lady Bird's mother as "a tall, eccentric woman from an old and aristocratic Alabama family, liked to wear long white dresses and heavy veils [... and who] scandalized people for miles around by entertaining Negroes in her home, and once even started to write a book about Negro religious practices, called Bio Baptism." Her unreconstructed husband, however, tended to see blacks as "hewers of wood and drawers of water," according to his younger son.^[9]

Lady Bird had two elder brothers, Thomas Jefferson Jr. (1901–1959) and Antonio, also known as Tony (1904–1986). She also had two stepmothers; the second, Ruth Scroggins, who married Thomas Taylor in 1937.^[10]

She was largely raised by her aunt Effie Pattillo, who moved to Karnack after her sister's death, although Lady Bird visited her Pattillo relatives in Autauga County, Alabama, every summer until she was a young woman. As she explained, "Until I was about 20, summertime always meant Alabama to me. With Aunt Effie we would board the train in Marshall and ride to the part of the world that meant watermelon cuttings, picnics at the creek, and a lot of company every Sunday."^[11] According to Lady Bird, her aunt Effie "opened my spirit to beauty, but she neglected to give me any insight into the practical matters a girl should know about, such as how to dress or choose one's friends or learning to dance."^[9]

Lady Bird was a shy and quiet girl who spent much of her youth alone outdoors. "People always look back at it now and assume it was lonely," she once said about her childhood. "To me it definitely was not. [...] I spent a lot of time just walking and fishing and swimming."^[12] She developed her lifelong love of the environment as a child growing up in the tall pines and bayous of East Texas and watching the wildflowers bloom each spring.^[13]

Education[link]

When it came time to enter high school,^[12] Lady Bird moved away from home to live with another family during weekdays in the town of Jefferson, Texas,^[14] since there was no high school in the Karnack area (her brothers had attended boarding schools in New York). Eventually she graduated third in her class at the age of 15 from Marshall Senior High School in nearby Marshall. Despite her young age, she drove herself to school in her own car, a distance of 15 miles (24 km) each way, because, she said, "it was an awful chore for my daddy to delegate some person from his business to take me in and out."^[12] During her senior year, when she realized that she had the highest grades in her class, she "purposely allowed her grades to slip" so that she would not have to give the valedictorian or salutatorian speech.^[5]

After graduating from high school in May 1928, Lady Bird entered the University of Alabama for the summer session, where she took her first journalism course, but being homesick for Texas, she did not return for the fall term at Alabama.^[15] Instead she and a high school friend enrolled at St. Mary's Episcopal College for Women,^[16] a strict Episcopal boarding junior college for women in Dallas, where she "converted to the Episcopal faith," although she waited five years to be confirmed.^[17]

After graduating from St. Mary's in May 1930, Lady Bird toyed with the idea of going back to Alabama, but another friend from Marshall was going to the University of Texas, so she chartered a plane to go down to Austin to check it out. Prophetically, as the plane landed she was awed by the sight of a field covered with bluebonnets and instantly fell in love with the city.^[18] Lady Bird received a Bachelor's of Arts degree with honors in 1933^[19] and a second bachelor's degree in journalism Cum Laude in 1934^[20] — a time when women were hard pressed to have a career of their own, let alone a college education. She was active on campus in different organizations such as Orange Jackets and believed in student leadership. Her goal was to become a reporter, but she also earned a teaching certificate.^[5] The summer after her second graduation, she and a girlfriend traveled to New York City and Washington, D.C., where they peered through the fence at the White House.^[5]

Marriage and family[link]

Her goal of a career in media was deferred when a friend in Austin introduced her to Lyndon Baines Johnson, a young up-and-coming political hopeful^[21] working as an aide to Congressman Richard Kleberg.^[5]

On their first date, which was breakfast the next morning at the Driskill Hotel and a long drive in the country, Johnson proposed. Lady Bird did not want to rush into marriage, but Lyndon Johnson was persistent and did not want to wait. Lady Bird accepted his proposal 10 weeks later.^[5] The couple married on November 17, 1934, at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas.

After three miscarriages,^[5] the couple had two daughters: Lynda (born in 1944), whose husband Charles S. Robb is a former governor of Virginia and former U.S. Senator, and Luci, born in 1947,^[22] first married to Pat Nugent, then Ian Turpin. The couple and their two daughters all shared the initials LBJ. At the time of her death, Johnson had seven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.^[5]

Early politics[link]

When Lyndon decided to run for Congress from Austin's 10th district, Lady Bird provided the money to launch his campaign. She took $10,000 of her inheritance from her mother's estate to help start his political career.^[23] The couple settled in Washington, D.C. after Lyndon was elected to Congress.^[24] After he enlisted in the Navy at the outset of the Second World War, Lady Bird ran the congressional office.^[24]

Johnson sometimes served as a mediating force between her willful husband and those he had encountered. On one occasion, after Lyndon had clashed with a young Houston reporter, Dan Rather, Lady Bird followed Rather in her car and invited him to return and have some punch, explaining, "That's just the way Lyndon sometimes is."^[25]

Business career[link]

In January-February 1943, Ladybird Johnson spent $17,500 of her inheritance to purchase KTBC,^[3] an Austin radio station that was in debt. She bought the radio station from a three-man partnership which included a future U.S. Secretary of the Navy and a future U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Robert B. Anderson.

She served as President of the company, LBJ Holding Co., and her husband negotiated an agreement with the CBS radio network. Lady Bird decided to expand by buying a television station in 1952 despite Lyndon's objections, reminding him that she could do as she wished with her inheritance.^[5] The station, KTBC-TV/7 (then affiliated with CBS as well), would make the Johnsons millionaires as Austin's monopoly VHF franchise.^[26] Over the years, journalists have written about how Lyndon used his influence in the Senate to influence the Federal Communications Commission into granting the monopoly license, which was in Lady Bird's name.^[27][28]

Although LBJ Holding's two small banks failed and were closed in 1991 by the FDIC, the core Johnson radio properties survived and prospered. Emmis Communications bought KLBJ-AM, KLBJ-FM, KGSR, and three other stations from LBJ Holding for $105 million in 2003.^[29]

Eventually, Johnson's initial $41,000 investment turned into more than $150 million for the LBJ Holding Company.^[30] Johnson remained involved with the company until she was in her 80s.^[5] She was the first president's wife to become a millionaire in her own right.^[3]

Lady Bird Johnson in 1962

Second Lady of the United States[link]

John F. Kennedy chose Lyndon Johnson as his running mate for the 1960 election. At Kennedy's request, Lady Bird took an expanded role during the campaign, due to Jacqueline Kennedy's pregnancy. Over 71 days, she traveled 35,000 miles (56,000 km) through 11 states and appeared at 150 events.^[5] Kennedy and Johnson won the election that November, with Lady Bird helping the Democratic ticket carry seven Southern states.^[5]

As the Vice-President's wife, Lady Bird often served as a substitute for Jacqueline Kennedy at official events and functions.^[31] The Johnsons were accompanying Kennedy in Dallas when he was assassinated, and Lyndon was sworn in as President two hours later.

First Lady of the United States[link]

Official White House portrait of Lady Bird Johnson, painted in 1968 by Elizabeth Shoumatoff. The dress was designed by George Stavropoulos.^[32]

As First Lady, Johnson started a capital beautification project (Society for a More Beautiful National Capital) to improve physical conditions in Washington, D.C., both for residents and tourists by planting millions of flowers.^[30] Her beliefs regarding the importance of national beautification can best be summarized in her statement that "where flowers bloom, so does hope." She worked extensively with American Association of Nurserymen (AAN) executive Vice President Robert F. Lederer to protect wildflowers and the planting of them along highways. Her efforts inspired similar programs throughout the country. She became the first president's wife to advocate actively for legislation^[3] when she was instrumental in promoting the Highway Beautification Act, which was nicknamed "Lady Bird's Bill"^[5] and sought to beautify the nation's highway system by limiting billboards and by planting roadside areas. She was an advocate of the Head Start program.^[3]

Johnson created the modern structure of the First Lady's office; she was the first to have a press secretary and chief of staff of her own and an outside liaison with Congress.^[30] Her press secretary from 1963 to 1969 was Liz Carpenter, a fellow University of Texas alumna. Carpenter was the first professional newswoman to be press secretary to a First Lady, and she also served as Lady Bird's staff director. Johnson's tenure as First Lady marked the beginning of the hiring of employees in the East Wing to work specifically for the First Lady's projects.^[26]

Lady Bird Johnson in front of the South Lawn of the White House

During the 1964 election, Johnson traveled through eight Southern states in her own train to promote the Civil Rights Act,^[30] at one point giving 45 speeches over five days.^[26] It was the first solo whistlestop tour of a First Lady.^[25]

In 1970, Johnson published A White House Diary, her intimate, behind-the-scenes account of her husband's presidency spanning November 22, 1963, to January 20, 1969. Beginning with Kennedy's assassination, Mrs. Johnson recorded the momentous events of her times, including the Great Society's War on Poverty, the national civil rights and social protest movements, her own activism on behalf of the environment, and the Vietnam War. Johnson was acquainted with a long span of fellow First Ladies, from Eleanor Roosevelt to Laura Bush, and was protected by the United States Secret Service for 44 years, longer than anyone else in history.^[33]

Honors[link]

Lady Bird Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Gerald Ford on January 10, 1977. The citation for her medal read:

"One of America's great First Ladies, she claimed her own place in the hearts and history of the American people. In councils of power or in homes of the poor, she made government human with her unique compassion and her grace, warmth and wisdom. Her leadership transformed the American landscape and preserved its natural beauty as a national treasure."^[34]

Johnson then received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1988, becoming the first wife of a president to receive the honor.^[2] In a 1982 poll taken of historians ranking the most influential and important First Ladies, Johnson placed third behind Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt for her work as a conservation activist.^[5]

In addition to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, she was honored by the naming of the Lady Bird Johnson Park on Columbia Island in Washington, D.C., which was founded as a result of her efforts as First Lady to beautify the capital.^[5] She declined many overtures to name Austin's Town Lake in her honor after she had led a campaign to clean up the lake and add trails to its shoreline; following her death, Austin Mayor Will Wynn's office said it was a "foregone conclusion that Town Lake is going to be renamed" in honor of Johnson.^[34] The lake was renamed Lady Bird Lake on July 26, 2007.^[35]

(In 1963, during the Pageant Of Peace Christmas tree lighting ceremony, the President and First lady were to be introduced by a Girl Scout. President Kennedy had recently been assassinated and the girl introduced President and Mrs. Johnson as President and Mrs. Kennedy. She gasped in horror as soon as she did it and began crying. Mrs. Johnson leaped to her feet and put her arm around the girl's shoulder and comforted her, assuring her that it was alright and to please start over with the introduction. She did it right the second time and Mrs. Johnson sat down and the lighting ceremony continued. It was a revealing moment into the First Lady's character that endeared her to all who witnessed it.)

A majestic grove of coastal redwoods, named in her honor by President Nixon in 1969, is located just north of Orick, California. "Lady Bird Johnson Grove" is part of Redwood National Park. In April 2008, the "Lady Bird Johnson Memorial Cherry Blossom Grove" was dedicated in Marshfield, Missouri. The dedication took place during the city's annual cherry blossom festival. Johnson had been supportive of the rural community and their initiative to plant blossoming cherry trees.

In 1995, she received an Honor Award from the National Building Museum for her lifetime leadership in beautification and conservation campaigns.^[36]

Johnson was also named the honorary chairwoman of the Head Start program.^[34]

She held honorary degrees from many universities: Boston University, the University of Alabama, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, State University of New York, Southern Methodist University, Texas Woman's University, Middlebury College, Williams College, Southwestern University, Texas State University–San Marcos, Washington College and St. Edward's University.^[34]

Later life[link]

A portrait of Lady Bird Johnson in the Texas Hill Country

The former First Lady in 1987

After former President Johnson died of a heart attack in 1973,^[26] Lady Bird remained in the public eye, honoring her husband and other Presidents.

In the 1970s, she focused her attention on the Austin riverfront area through her involvement in the Town Lake Beautification Project. After her death in 2007, Town Lake was renamed Lady Bird Lake to honor her efforts.

From 1971 to 1978, Johnson served on the board of regents for the University of Texas System.^[37] She also served on the National Park Service Advisory Board and was the first woman to serve on National Geographic's Board of Trustees.^[26] President Nixon mentioned Johnson as a possible ambassador in a circulated memo, but nothing came of that proposal.^[26]

On December 22, 1982 (her 70th birthday), she and actress Helen Hayes founded the National Wildflower Research Center, a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving and reintroducing native plants in planned landscapes, located east of Austin, Texas. This earned her the nickname of "Johnny Appleseed" of Wildflowers. The Center opened a new facility southwest of Austin on La Crosse Avenue in 1994. It was officially renamed the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in 1998 in honor of Johnson, who raised $10 million for the facility.^[30] On June 20, 2006, the University of Texas at Austin announced plans to incorporate the 279-acre (1.1 km²) Wildflower Center into the University.^[38]

For 20 years, Johnson spent her summers on the island of Martha's Vineyard renting the home of Charles Guggenheim for many of those years. She said she had greatly appreciated the island's natural beauty and flowers.^[39]

On October 13, 2006, Johnson made a rare public appearance at the renovation announcement of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum. Sitting in a wheelchair and showing signs of recent health problems, Lady Bird seemed engaged and alert, and applauded along with those present at the ceremony.^{[citation needed]}

Final years[link]

Health problems and death[link]

In 1993, Johnson's health began to fail. In August 1993, she suffered a stroke and became legally blind due to macular degeneration. In 1999 she was hospitalized for a fainting spell and, in 2002, she suffered a second, more severe, stroke, which left her unable to speak coherently or walk without assistance. In 2005, she spent a few days in an Austin hospital for treatment of bronchitis. In February 2006, Lady Bird's daughter Lynda Johnson Robb told a gathering at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri, that her mother was now totally blind and was "not in very good health."^[40]

In June 2007, Johnson spent six days in Seton Hospital in Austin after suffering from a low-grade fever.^[41] At 4:18 PM (CDT) on July 11, 2007, she died at home of natural causes,^[42] surrounded by members of her family and Catholic priest Father Robert Scott.^[43] At Johnson's funeral service her daughter Luci Baines Johnson remarked that one week before her death she made a public appearance and visited the Blanton Museum of Art. "It was a scene: mother was on IV, oxygen tube and a feeding tube. It looked like a mobile hospital. But she had a wonderful time," Luci said.^{[citation needed]}

Three weeks before Lady Bird's death, the rector of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Fredericksburg, which had been her second home for over 50 years, had announced to his parishioners that she had given $300,000 to pay off the church's mortgage.^[44]

Funeral services[link]

Funeral service for Lady Bird Johnson

Nancy Reagan, Rosalynn Carter, Jimmy Carter, Laura Bush, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, (second row) Caroline Kennedy, Barbara Bush, Susan Ford Bales, (third row) Maria Shriver, and Patricia "Tricia" Nixon Cox attended, representing eight presidential families (excluding the Johnsons and counting George H.W. Bush's family and George W. Bush's family separately).

At 9:00 A.M. on July 15, a ceremonial cortège left the Texas State Capitol. The public was invited to line the route through downtown Austin on Congress Avenue and along the shores of Lady Bird Lake to pay their respects. The public part of the funeral procession ended in Johnson City. The family had a private burial at the Johnson family cemetery in Stonewall, where Johnson was buried next to her husband who had died 34 years earlier.^[45] Unlike previous funerals for first ladies, the pallbearers during the funeral services came from members of the armed forces.^[45][46]

She was the first former First Lady to die in the 21st century.

On June 7, 2008, the Texas State Democratic Party honored Johnson by renaming the state convention's Blue Star Breakfast as the 'Lady Bird Breakfast'.^[47] In January 2009, St. Edward's University in Austin completed a new residence hall for upperclassmen bearing the name of Lady Bird Johnson Hall, or "LBJ Hall" for short.^[48]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lady Bird Johnson

Wikinews has related news: Lady Bird Johnson

• Lady Bird Johnson, Former First Lady, Dies at 94
• Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library Tribute Site
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
• FBI files on Lady Bird Johnson
• Redwood National Park — Lady Bird Johnson Grove
• Oral History Interviews with Lady Bird Johnson, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
• "Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson". Presidential First Lady. Find a Grave. Aug 09, 2003. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7748421. Retrieved Aug 18, 2011. 

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ladybird
Coccinella magnifica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Coleoptera
Suborder:	Polyphaga
Superfamily:	Cucujoidea
Family:	Coccinellidae Latreille, 1807 [1]
Subfamilies
Chilocorinae Coccidulinae Coccinellinae Epilachninae Ortaliinae Scymninae Sticholotidinae

The Coccinellidae are a family of beetles, known variously as ladybirds (UK, Ireland, Australia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, South Africa, New Zealand, India, Malta, some parts of Canada and the US), or ladybugs (North America). When they need to use a common name, entomologists widely prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles^[2] as these insects are not true bugs. Lesser-used names include God's cow, ladyclock, lady cow, and lady fly.^[3]

Overview[link]

Coccinellids are small insects, ranging from 1 mm to 10 mm (0.04 to 0.4 inches), and are commonly yellow, orange, or scarlet with small black spots on their wing covers, with black legs, head and antennae. Such color patterns vary greatly however; for example, a minority of species, such as Vibidia duodecimguttata, a twelve-spotted species. has whitish spots on a brown background.

Basic anatomy of a coccinellida

A specimen of Harmonia axyridis in South Africa, freshly out of its pupa. Its black spots will develop as its exoskeleton hardens.

In this coccinellid the black spots are so large that they meet and leave only patches of yellow as spots. In some species the black is so extensive as to form the background to small coloured spots. In some species either type of pattern occurs.

This Yellow Shouldered Ladybird feeding on an Aphid has only two colour spots. Some species have none.

In some species the spots are so large that they merge, leaving the remaining bright colours as spots on a black background. Many coccinellid species are mostly, or entirely, black, grey, or brown and may be difficult for non-entomologists to recognize as coccinellids at all. Conversely,non-entomologists might easily mistake many other small beetles for coccinellids. For example the tortoise beetles, like the ladybird beetles, look similar because they are shaped so that they can cling to a flat surface so closely that ants and many other enemies cannot grip them.

Coccinellids are found worldwide, with over 5,000 species described,^[4] more than 450 native to North America alone.

The Coccinellidae are generally considered useful insects, because many species feed on aphids or scale insects, which are pests in gardens, agricultural fields, orchards, and similar places. However, some species do have unwelcome effects. Among these the most prominent are the subfamily Epilachninae, which are plant eaters. Usually Epilachninae are only mild agricultural pests, eating the leaves of grain, potatoes, beans and various other crops, but their numbers can increase explosively in years when their natural enemies are few, such as parasitoid wasps that attack their eggs. When that happens they can do major crop damage. They occur in practically all the major crop producing regions of temperate and tropical countries.

Harmonia axyridis (or the harlequin ladybird/bug) is an example of how an animal might be partly welcome and partly harmful. It was introduced into North America from Asia in 1916 to control aphids, but is now the most common species, out-competing many of the native species.^[5] It has since spread to much of western Europe, reaching the UK in 2004.^[5][6] It has become something of a domestic and agricultural pest in some regions and gives ecological cause for concern. It similarly has turned up in parts of Africa, where it has proved variously unwelcome, perhaps most prominently in vine-related enterprises.

A common myth, totally unfounded, is that the number of spots on the insect's back indicates its age.^[7][8] In fact the number, shape, and placement of the spots all are determined by the species of the beetle, and are fixed by the time it emerges from its pupa. The same applies to the colour, except that it may take some days before the colour of the adult beetle to mature and stabilise. Generally the mature colour tends to be fuller and darker than the colour of the callow.

Etymology[link]

Coccinelid is derived from the Latin word coccineus meaning scarlet.^[9] The name ladybird originated in Britain where the insects became known as Our Lady's bird or the Lady beetle.^[10][11] Mary (Our Lady) was often depicted wearing a red cloak in early paintings and the spots of the seven spot ladybird (the most common in Europe) were said to symbolise her seven joys and seven sorrows.^[10] In the United States the name was adapted to ladybug. Common names in other European languages have the same association, for example, the German name Marienkäfer translates to Marybeetle.^[12]

Physical appearance[link]

Most coccinellids have oval, dome-shaped bodies with six short legs. Depending on the species, they can have spots, stripes, or no markings at all. Seven-spotted coccinellidae are red or orange with three spots on each side and one in the middle; they have a black head with white patches on either side.

Biology[link]

See also : List of Coccinellidae genera

Coccinella transversalis, elytra in the open position

Coccinellida larva

Eggs with the head of a match for scale

Coccinellids are typically predators of Hemiptera such as aphids and scale insects, though larvae and eggs of their own species can also be important resources when alternative prey are scarce.

Members of the subfamily Epilachninae are herbivores, and can be very destructive agricultural pests (e.g., the Mexican bean beetle). While predatory species are often used as biological control agents, introduced species of coccinellidae (such as Harmonia axyridis or Coccinella septempunctata in North America) out-compete and displace native coccinellids and become pests in their own right.^[13]

The main predators of coccinellids are usually birds, but they are also the prey of frogs, wasps, spiders, and dragonflies. The bright colours of many coccinellids discourage some potential predators from making a meal of them. This phenomenon is called aposematism and works because predators learn by experience to associate certain prey phenotypes with a bad taste. A further defense known as "reflex bleeding" exists in which an alkaloid toxin is exuded through the joints of the exoskeleton, triggered by mechanical stimulation (such as by predator attack) in both larval and adult beetles, deterring feeding.

Coccinellids in temperate regions enter diapause during the winter, so they often are among the first insects to appear in the spring. Some species (e.g., Hippodamia convergens) gather into groups and move to higher elevated land, such as a mountain, to enter diapause. Most coccinellids overwinter as adults, aggregating on the south sides of large objects such as trees or houses during the winter months, dispersing in response to increasing day length in the spring.^[14]

It is thought that certain species of Coccinellids lay extra infertile eggs with the fertile eggs. These appear to provide a backup food source for the larvae when they hatch. The ratio of infertile to fertile eggs increases with scarcity of food at the time of egg laying.^[15]

Predatory coccinellids are usually found on plants which harbour their prey. They lay their eggs near their prey, to increase the likelihood the larvae will find the prey easily. In Harmonia axyridis, eggs hatch in 3–4 days from clutches numbering from a few to several dozen. Depending on resource availability, the larvae pass through four instars over 10–14 days, after which pupation occurs. After a teneral period of several days, the adults become reproductively active and are able to reproduce again, although they may become reproductively quiescent if eclosing late in the season. Total life span is 1–2 years on average.

Infestations and impacts[link]

In the United States, Coccinellids usually begin to appear indoors in the fall. They leave their summer feeding sites in fields, forests and yards looking for a place to spend the winter. Typically when temperatures warm to the mid-60s Fahrenheit in the late afternoon, following a period of cooler weather, they will swarm onto or into buildings illuminated by the sun. Swarms of Coccinellids fly to buildings in September through November depending on location and weather conditions. Also, homes or buildings near fields or woods are more prone to infestation.^[16]

The presence of Coccinellids in grape harvests can cause ladybird taint in wines produced from the grapes.

After an abnormally long period of hot dry weather in the Summer of 1976 in the UK, there was a marked increase in the aphid population followed by a "plague" of Coccinellids, with many reports of people being bitten as the supply of aphids dwindled.^[17][18] Recent studies suggest that Coccinellids can also cause allergic reactions, such as eye irritation or asthma.^[19]

UK ladybird survey[link]

Coccinella septempunctata pair mating.

The ladybird atlas Ladybirds (Coccinellidae) of Britain and Ireland published in 2011^[20] showed a decline of more than 20% in native species due to environmental changes and competition from foreign invaders. The distribution maps, compiled over a twenty year period with help from thousands of volunteers, showed a decline in the numbers of the common 10-spot and 14-spot ladybirds and a number of other species including the 11-spot, 22-spot, Cream-spot, Water and Hieroglyphic ladybirds, Coccidula rufa, Rhyzobius litura and Nephus redtenbacheri. Conversely, increases were seen in the numbers of Harlequin, Orange, Pine and 24-spot ladybirds as well as Rhyzobius chrysomeloides. The Kidney spot ladybird was recorded in Scotland for the first time in recent years, probably due to climate change, and the once-extinct 13-spot was found to have recolonised Cornwall, Devon and the New forest. The most commonly recorded species was the 7-spot, closely followed by the Asian Harlequin — an invader that arrived from continental Europe in 2003 after being introduced to control pests. An 'explosion' in the number of Orange ladybirds, which feed on mildew, is thought to be have been due to the warmer damper conditions that now prevail in parts of England.^[21]

In Popular Culture[link]

Folk History[link]

Ladybird on a nettle leaf.

Coccinellids are and have been for very many years a favorite insect of children. The insects had many regional names (now mostly disused) in English, such as the lady-cows, may-bug, golden-knop, golden-bugs (Suffolk); and variations on Bishop-Barnaby (Norfolk dialect) – Barnabee, Burnabee, the Bishop-that-burneth, and bishy bishy barnabee.^[22] The etymology is unclear but it may be from St. Barnabas feast in June, when the insect appears or a corruption of "Bishop-that-burneth", from the fiery elytra of the beetles.^[23]

The ladybird was immortalized in the still-popular children's nursery rhyme Ladybird, Ladybird:

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home
Your house is on fire and your children are gone
All except one, and that's Little Anne
For she has crept under the warming pan.

This poem has its counterpart in German as Marienwuermchen, collected in Des Knaben Wunderhorn, and set to music by Robert Schumann as Op. 79, No. 13.

Many cultures consider Coccinellids lucky and have nursery rhymes or local names for the insects that reflect this. For instance, the Turkish name for the insect is uğur böceği, literally meaning good luck bug. In many countries, including Russia, Turkey, and Italy, the sight of a coccinellid is either a call to make a wish or a sign that a wish will soon be granted.

In Christian areas, Coccinellids are often associated with the Virgin Mary and the name that the insect bears in the various languages of Europe corresponds to this. Though historically many European languages referenced Freyja, the fertility goddess of Norse mythology, in the names, the Virgin Mary has now largely supplanted her, so that, for example, freyjuhœna (Old Norse) and Frouehenge have been changed into marihøne (Norwegian) and Marienkäfer (German), which corresponds with Our Lady's Bird.^[24] Sometimes, the insect is referred to as belonging directly to God (Irish bóín Dé, Romanian vaca-Domnului, Polish boża krówka, all meaning "God's [little] cow").^[25] In Dutch it is called lieveheersbeestje, meaning "little animal of our Good Lord".

In both Hebrew and Yiddish, it is called "Moshe Rabbenu's (i.e. Moses's) little cow" or "little horse", apparently an adaptation from Slavic languages. Occasionally, it is called "Little Messiah".^[26]

Popular Media[link]

"Ladybugs" or "ladybirds" feature in a range of children's literature as well as in art, TV, and film. They are often depicted in an anthropomorphic or otherwise fictionalised manner.

In Roald Dahl's children's book James and the Giant Peach, The Ladybird (among a cast of anthropomorphic minibeast characters grown to human size) becomes perhaps the closest friend of the protagonist James, treating him with motherly affection. In the American-produced 1996 animated film version, she was voiced by Jane Leeves and renamed The Ladybug, despite Leeves' northern English interpretation.

In the animated film A Bug's Life, Francis the Ladybug (voiced by Dennis Leary) is an aggressive Coccinellid and the clown in P.T. Flea's circus. The contrast between him being a male and a 'lady'bug is a recurring joke in the film.

Tree Fu Tom features ladybirds as "cows" being ranched by a southern-belle cowgirl.

Ledyba and Ledian of the Pokémon series are based on Coccinellids.

As a logo[link]

Symbol of the Dutch Foundation Against Senseless Violence

Bold colors and simple shape have led to use as a logo for a wide range of organizations and companies including:

• Ladybird Books (owned by Pearson PLC)
• Ladybird range of children's clothing sold by Woolworths.co.uk and formerly by the (now defunct) Woolworth's chain store in the UK
• Polish supermarket chain Biedronka
• Atmel AVR Studio software logo
• Estonian mobile operator EMT^[27]
• Software development firm Axosoft.
• Symbol of the Finnish Swedish People's Party.
• The ladybird street tile (pictured) is a symbol against senseless violence in The Netherlands and is often placed on the sites of deadly crimes.^[28]

In addition, it has been chosen as

• State insect of: Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, and Tennessee, though only New York has selected a species native to the United States (Coccinella novemnotata); the other states have all adopted an invasive European species (Coccinella septempunctata).
• An "official national mascot"^[29] for Alpha Sigma Alpha, a national sorority in the United States.

References[link]