The Lady that Peed in the Palm of my Hand

Posted by gspeed on Jun 6, 2009 in Animalia, Monsters, Myths & Legends | 3 comments

I was never sure if I should be offended that a ‘LADY’bug is an insect known for its voracious appetite, bulbous body and the weird habit of bleeding all over the place, but the name really has nothing to do with the animal itself, but rather where it came from:

In the Middle Ages crops were being devastated by aphids (as if people didn’t have enough problems at the time). Farmers began praying to the Virgin Mary for help and shortly thereafter swarms of the beetles came to the rescue. Of course, they were called “The Beetles Of Our Lady” after that little miracle, but “ladybeetle” or “ladybug” is definitely more catchy.

Germany is full of ladybugs. There are days in the summer where the shiny beetles crawl around all over the sidewalk, store windows and cars.

I’ve found branches weighed down by giant red clumps made up of thousands of ladybugs. When the weather gets warm enough (The little lumps won’t move unless it’s warmer than 50 degrees.), these writhing masses dissolve into swarms that eventually find their way into your hair and potentially your mouth (especially if you tend to walk through an infestation with your mouth hanging wide open…that’s how I like to catch most of my bugs…a butterfly net? pshaw).

Like all kids I’d love finding a brightly colored beetles to play with, but was horrified when one of these supposidly dainty, little ladybugs left a disgusting (but still dainty), yellow puddle in the palm of my hand as thanks for my devoted attention. That little assnugget of a bug wasn’t very ladylike.

I was even more disgusted when I found out that the yellow, little fleck left on my hand wasn’t even pee, but blood that the ladybug had squirted through the joints in its legs. Its what they do when they’re being harassed, apparently. I’m not such a huge fan of ladybugs anymore.