Ladybug boom follows aphid infestation

A relatively new species of ladybug has some people in southern Ontario swarming to hire exterminators.

The multi-coloured Asian ladybug is enjoying a population explosion after feasting on the unusually high number of soybean aphids that blanketed the region in August.

Now, as the temperature cools, the beetles are creeping into the cracks of windows and doors, trying to find a warm place to hibernate.

• FROM AUG. 3, 2001: Southern Ontario swarmed by green bugs

The Asian ladybug was introduced in Louisiana 85 years ago to eat aphids.

People who remembered the legion of aphids thriving in Ontario's stubborn summer heat wave are putting two and two together.

"If in fact there is a cause and effect relationship, I think that would be good news for the soybean farmers of southern Ontario, because ladybirds are a biological control agent," says Doug Currie, an entomologist at the Royal Ontario Museum.

"And it certainly doesn't have the unsavoury consequence of some of the chemical techniques that might be brought to bear."

Experts say while some people may not like the bugs, they're harmless.

"They may give off a foul smell when disturbed and people generally tend to be entomophobic afraid of insects," says Doug Parker of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.