New book features Alberta ladybugs

Hercules, blotch-backed, twice-stabbed, oncesquashed and flying saucer.

The names are as evocative as they are unusual and an interesting if not surprising factoid in the world of the insects we know as ‘ladybugs.’

But then, who knew ladybugs, long considered friend of gardeners everywhere, had such interesting names, or that Alberta was home to enough species of these distinctive beetles to fill a book.

Ladybugs of Alberta: Finding the Spots and Connecting the Dots is that book, published by The University of Alberta Press. Written by John Acorn, an Edmonton-based writer, photographer, naturalist and broadcaster, it features 75 of the common and not-so-common ladybugs found throughout Alberta, including the Rocky Mountains.

After reading Acorn’s newest book, number three in his Alberta insect series, it is impossible to walk away thinking that the red ladybugs with the distinctive black dots are the end-all be-all of ladybugs.

While they may be the more common ladybugs found in this region, saying ‘seen one,seen ‘em all’, is so far from the truth it’s like saying all alpine wildflowers are the
same.

In fact, the range and size of ladybugs is staggering. Some ladybugs are tiny, like the micro ladybug at 1.0 millimetre, and about the thickness of dime, while others are massive (at least by ladybug standards), like the wonderfully-named mealybug destroyer at 4.5 mm.

They also come in a broad range of colours and patterns, beyond the red-and-black. Some are entirely black or, like the twice-stabbed ladybug, black with a red dot on each wing cover.

Even though ladybugs are one of the most appreciated denizens of the bug world – along with butterflies and dragonflies – Acorn had the difficult job of presenting these aphid eating creatures in a manner that would not only grab a reader’s attention, but also keep it.

A difficult task given that his topic is not one to garner much passion among mainstream audiences.

But for those with even a slight interest in nature and its smaller denizens, Acorn does a commendable job of keeping his topic readable and funny. It’s an approach he used in his recent Deep Alberta: Fossil Facts and Dinosaur Digs.

That’s the charm of Ladybugs of Alberta: Finding the Spots and Connecting the Dots,the first regional field guide of its kind in North America. Acorn uses the book to share his passion, and in the process his knowledge, of what he believes to be some pretty cool critters.