Talk:Coccinellidae

Why do they clump together by the thousand?

For warmth

Perhaps the genera should go into a separate article. Also, http://www.wbrc.org.uk/WorcRecd/Issue12/ladybird.htm mentions additional subfamilies Rhyzobiinae, Platynaspinae, dunno how those fit in. Stan 17:26 16 May 2003 (UTC)

Indeed. That is the longest tatobox I have ever seen. :) Bryan

Commonwealth

Is Commonwealth an appropriate description here? Canada is part of the Commonwealth, but we call these ladybugs (it's a better name, I think, since they aren't birds but are bugs, just not true bugs). On the other hand, Canada is weird thanks to its proximity to the USA.

You're right, not many Canadians use it. Exceptions include Canada Agriculture, an Albertan museum. But I think Australian and New Zealander Englishes use "ladybird." I've changed it to "North American English" and "some Commonwealth English]] dialects". Is there a more concise way? --Menchi 05:26 26 May 2003 (UTC)

I believe the most appropriate would be to remove "(Commonwealth English)" and change "ladybug" to "(in North America)", I'm none too keen on these national derivations of English, anyway. Of course, technically that will include Mexicans and whatnot, but I would imagine the Mexicans that speak "English" will be heavily influenced by the U.S. just like the Canadians.

Subtaxa

Should the Subtaxa go on a spearte page? They rather dominate this one. Andy Mabbett 11:38, 3 Jun 2004 (UTC)

You pushed me over the edge. :-) Done. Stan 16:02, 3 Jun 2004 (UTC)

More please...

Any clues on predators etc.? --JiMternet 10:43, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Standardisation...

Perhaps it might be appropriate to standardise the name used throughout the article? Currently, the choice of whether to use the name 'ladybird', 'ladybug', etc. seems to fall in line with the nationality of those writing any particular section. I am thinking 'Ladybird' might be the most appropriate name to use, being the title of the page that all alternatives redirect to and all. Thoughts?

I agree, it's confusing as is. I prefer Ladybug myself, however, doing a quick google search:

Ladybird: 992,000
Ladybug: 803,000

Since ladybird is about %20 more popular, I vote that ladybird should be the language in the article with a bolded mention of the term ladybug in the first or second sentance. --Quasipalm 14:19, 12 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Coleopterists seem to have adopted the judicious compromise of "lady beetle", which also has the advantage of adding "beetle" into the name, and dropping the misleading "bird" or "bug"; this would be an instance where bending the "most common" rule would be helpful. Google differences of only 20% amount to a dead tie, because it is so easily skewed by web page mirrors and such (not least of which is mirrors of our own content!). Stan 16:31, 12 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

"Ladybird" is common in the UK; "ladybug" is common in the US. So you can't satisfy everybody. If "lady beetle" is an unacceptable compromise, how about the Latinate "coccinellid"? Gdr 18:13:57, 2005-08-13 (UTC)

I'd prefer "lady beetle", because it at least suggests ladybird/ladybug to the un-Latined. Stan 18:27, 13 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Photograph

I've got a photograph of a ladybird I took in Panama. See User:DirkvdM/Photographs#Plants_and_Animals. I see there are already lots of photographs here. So if someone could tell me what ladybird it is I could place it in the right article. Thanx. DirkvdM 10:00, 18 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

taxobox pic

Is there any reason why we are using this particular image in the taxobox; it isn't as clear or as intriguing as the second one. Could we possibly swap them? -- Rmrfstar 21:29, 6 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]