Ladies want the best for their kids. For, lady beetles (Family: Coccinellidae), they want to lay their eggs (a.k.a. oviposition) in a place where their larvae will be able to have lots of high-quality food and low chances of getting beaten up by bullies (a.k.a intraspecific predation) or eaten by predators. Although it is unknown what sensory cues the lady beetle picks up on to decide where she places her eggs, scientists have found that she is more concerned with bullies and predation than access to a good food source. Talk about protective parenting!

[Photo and caption by Karli Chudeau]

Seagraves, M. P. (2009). Lady beetle oviposition behavior in response to the trophic environment. Biological Control, 51(2), 313-322.