It is the time of the year when people cluster indoors to socialize. Other creatures, like bears, choose to hibernate until warm weather. Same thing goes for lady bugs, more correctly known as lady beetles.

How can you tell the ladybugs from Asian lady beetles? Allow me to quote from PestWiki.com: “The main difference between these two insects is the size of the two bugs. Asian ladybugs are larger in size. Ladybugs have a head that is all black with little white cheeks. Their Asian counterparts have more white on their “cheeks” and are more of a deep orange color rather than a red.” The Asians have a white M on their black heads, closest to the round body, while ladybugs do not. The M can be large or small, but it is always present.

What difference does it make whether your polka-dotted insects are ladybugs or Asian lady beetles? Well, ladybugs are good insects. In their immature stage, the larvae look like red and black alligators. These larvae eat enormous amounts of aphids (yay!), scale and other insects, and are considered very beneficial. You can even purchase them for release into your garden. (I’ve heard mixed results on the success of this.) When cold weather arrives, ladybugs seek shelter to hibernate outdoors. They don’t bite. They don’t stink. And they don’t congregate in large numbers.

Asian lady beetles are in the same family, but they are the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad cousins of ladybugs. They like to hibernate inside your home. They will congregate in large groups, usually next to a metal surface that has become heated in winter sun. (See the accompanying photograph.) They don’t have teeth, but they can scrape human skin in a way that feels exactly like a bite. They leave a stinky yellow goo wherever they gather and can stain skin, fabrics or paint. Since they prefer light colors (white, silver, yellow), this staining is a most unpleasant habit. If you spot them inside your home, the recommended removal method is vacuuming. Don’t squash them — pee-ewe. Just don’t forget to dispose of the vacuum contents, outdoors. Their one redeeming quality is that they, too, eat aphids.

Check next week’s blog for instructions on how to create Ladybug art a la Mary Snoddy for your garden.