Brighter ladybirds taste worse
While we can't always notice the difference between ladybird colours, a bird can, and brighter ladybirds are therefore less likely to be eaten because of their bad taste. Image: Antagain/iStockphoto To humans they might be pretty and small, the inspiration for nursery rhymes and children's clothing, but the redder the ladybird, the worse it tastes to the bird which tries to eat it, an international research team, including Dr John Endler from Deakin University has found.Dr Endler from the University's Centre for Integrative Ecology, Dr Jon Blount from the University of Exeter and Dr Mike Speed from the University of Liverpool in the UK and others investigated the impact of food resources on the ladybird's distinctive colour and spots."While ladybirds are a friend to the gardener, in that they prey on pests that attack plants such as aphids, they are also attractive to birds who use them as food source," Dr Endler...