Are ladybugs real bugs

Lady beetles belong to the family of Coccinellidae, and that Word comes from the Latin for scarlet. Thousands of species, with diverse colouration.

The common food colouring cochineal is derived from processing these tiny beetles.

Their eggs are laid on the underside of a leaf, and are a golden-orange colour - usually laid in parallel rows of 6 - 10. They pass through a 'caterpillar' stage, then a pupa, and the emergent beetle is a butter yellow in colour, gradually turning to their adult colour in 1 day.