As the weather gets warmer, Multi-Coloured Asian Lady Beetles are starting to wake up from dormancy, which means you might be noticing them in your homes, or already have for a number of weeks.

There are actually 66 different species of lady beetles in Manitoba, but the Multi-Coloured Asian Lady Beetle is the species people may be noticing in their homes.

Manitoba Agriculture Entomologist, John Gavloski, says the reason for that is in the way they overwinter.  He says most species of lady beetles prefer to crawl under leaves or a rock pile in the fall.  Gavloski says, native to Asia, Multi-Coloured Asian Lady Beetles would over overwinter in cracks, crevices, and cliffs.  The closest thing to that on the prairies is places like the siding on a home.

Multi-Coloured Asian Lady Beetles seen crawling on the ceiling of a home this springGavloski says on warmer days, mainly in October, they will cluster on peoples' homes and if they can find any cracks or areas that they can squeeze into to get into your home, they will.  "They will do it, and they will leave somewhat of a chemical trail that makes it easier for other ones to find their way in.  So often when you do get a few in, you end up with hundreds, sometimes even thousands in the home."

When they do get into your home in fall, they go into a dormant state, so they are not feeding or reproducing.  "So numbers won't build up or get bigger over the winter," Gavloski noted.  "Basically what you have now, is what came in in October."

Gavloski says with the weather getting warmer, the Multi-Coloured Asian Lady Beetles are getting active and are wanting to get outside, and on those warmer days, you may notice more of them.

Although a pain when they get inside our homes, Gavloski explains these insects have a good side to them, being a voracious aphid predator.  "Aphids attack many different crops.  They can be pests on soybeans, peas, cereal crops...so that's the main food source for these lady beetles, so they are beneficial insects in that sense."

Without these beetles around, Gavloski says we would have had more soybean fields sprayed with insecticides last year.   "So they do have that good side, and once they get outdoors, they're looking for these aphids to feed on."

Gavloski says the cycles of the Multi-Coloured Asian Lady Beetle are driven by aphid numbers.  He notes last year, we had exceptional aphid numbers.  "In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a year where we've had such high aphid numbers in so many different crops."

Gavloski says the dry conditions we experienced last year probably increased the aphid numbers to where they were.  He said periods of heavy rain can sometimes bring aphid numbers down.  "So we had huge aphid numbers last year and that's what built up the lady beetles to where they are, which is probably the biggest population we've seen."

What to expect this year?  Gavloski says it all depends on what the aphid numbers are like.  He says a lot of species of aphids they were feeding on, are species that blow into Manitoba, they don't overwinter well here.  "So if we don't get the aphids blowing in, or they just don't build up, we will have fewer lady beetles."