red speckled oak

[lylera]

 After reading Tom's story about how hickory got named, I got one.I do some logging every year, and had a friend with his woodmizer saw out afew thousand ft of the oak and cherry #2 logs that I planned on selling to the local guys, carpenters,cabinet makers and such.Had it stacked up on the edge of my woods, and not stickered too well.    Well seems everything is pretty slow around here,doesn't seem to be much homebuildig etc so didn't sell too much. Been snowing here some and generaly getting nasty. Decided I better put it up in my barn, and sticker it right for winter.Well, seems we got a new bug around here,looks like a ladybug, but isn't,sort a like a small palmetto bug, only round,for you guys who live in the sunshine.Don't know where they came from, but suspect they came in on a boat from the same place my boots and everything else is made. Well somebody told me they won't bother you, and I know they didn't bother anyone else because they all found my lumber piles. Every board was covered on the underside, and no exageration, hundreds on each board.It was pretty hard to move a  board without mashing them, so as Paul says, now you know the rest of the story! Been thinking maybe boots and bugs are why the boys aren't working too much.Well I think I got the market covered for red speckled oak if any of you guys need some, or can send you some bugs if you want to start from scratch. lyle    

[Ron Wenrich]

I think they might be European lady bugs.  A bit bigger, not as red, and fewer but larger black dots.

They must have hatched out the other week around my parts.  There were hundreds of them inside one of my sheds.  

[Don P]

Same here in IL, but not hundreds...thousands. they seemed to really start moving indoors when harvesting began although the temps dropped also. I actually had to stop and shut the garage doors and vacuum them of the walls the other day. They were so actively dive bombing me I was afraid of an accident...little blighters kept going down my shirt and doing the rumba while I was sawing. :D
The homeowners have been sanding their remains off for weeks. I moved some cedar posts in the shed over the weekend and they were in solid pools on the 6x6 posts...7 in one blow? Heck I figure I got about 500 in one.
We do seem to get more each year.

[L. Wakefield]

   yes- here in Maine we've had them for about 5 years. They call them 'Halloween lady bugs' (you notice they came around Halloween..)- and it's truly comical when someone first gets inflicted because there are **SO**MANY**! I honestly can't say i've seen them do any harm beyond being a volumetric pest- and they have been known to bite. i am so glad when i see the old 'good' red ladybugs that I tell each and every one how appreciated they are. They are an Asian or Chinese ladybug, I'm told.

   I honestly think after the first 2 years that they stabilized and then have started decreasing in numbers. I believe they hit with a BANG and then probably encountered stabilizing factors here. I don't really believe they will be a long-term problem. : lw

[Jeff]

These dudes sure are wide spread.  I heard they were an import to control Gypsy moth. I don't know if that has any validity or not though.

They sure seem to be atracted to wood. If you have a home with knotty pine or cedar interior in one room, that will be the room that they are in. My sister's home is all knotty pine and she has to use the shop vac everyday on em. She has no idea how they get it.

[swampwhiteoak]

I think they were introduced to control crop pests.  And they actually do that OK.  But then, later in the year, they resort to pestering humans.  They'll take little bites on me every now and then.  I am in full agreement with everyones annoyance.  I hear them called Asian lady beetles.  I'm not sure they're going away.