So there I was last week, sitting in my house at my desk, when this little ladybug goes crawling across my Property homework. I brushed her (him?) away and continued agonizing over adverse possession. No big deal. The next day, while riding my bike to school, I got hit in the face by another ladybug. This is weird, I thought. It wasn't until three days ago, however, that I realized what was happening: Ada is being overrun by ladybugs. I looked down the street as I walked out onto my porch Monday morning and it looked like the plague had descended upon Ohio. Ladybugs everywhere, thousands of them, were cruising around and hanging out on houses, pets, cars, you name it. The side of my house was party central. I've never seen anything like it.
So I did a little research and it turns out they aren't ladybugs, but Multicolored Asian Lady Beetles, or Harmonia axyridis, and they're a big nuisance throughout the state. There's a good article on the phenomenon here (with scary picture of beetle infestation). What's interesting is that they were introduced to the area in the 1980s to control tree aphid populations, and it worked. The only catch is that for a few weeks in the fall, after they've been chowing down on aphid cacciatore all summer, the fat and happy bugs have to find lodgings pronto before hibernation season arrives, so they swarm. As we just had our first frost last week, all the bugs in town are out cruising for rooms. Everyone seems pretty tolerant of the little critters, but but I did hear some guy yesterday say one bit him. I've been considering subleasing the upstairs bedroom to a few thousand ladybug families this winter, but I may have to reconsider if there's a chance they might get hungry and find I taste like aphid.