Ladybugs, also known as lady beetles or ladybird beetles, are small, colorful insects that are beneficial to gardens and crops because they eat plant-eating insects such as aphids, mealybugs, mites, and scale insects
. There are about 5,000 different species of ladybugs in the world, and not all of them have the same appetites
. Ladybugs lay their eggs in clusters or rows on the underside of a leaf, usually where aphids have gathered
. Ladybugs are colorful for a reason, as their markings tell predators to eat something else because they taste terrible. When threatened, ladybugs secrete an oily, foul-tasting fluid from joints in their legs and may also play dead
