How Do I Tell the Difference Between Girl Ladybugs and Boy Ladybugs?

Common Misconceptions

• Many people erroneously think that the number of spots determines the gender. According to Everything Ladybug, the spots serve as a warning to predators, rather than an indication of the bug's sex: Male and female ladybugs can have the same number and pattern of spots. Conversely, ladybugs of the same gender may have a different spot pattern or color, even if they're of the same species.

Size Matters

• Ladybugs vary in size, according to the Bugs and Weeds website, which recorded a one-fifth-inch long, two-spot ladybug and a one-third-inch long, seven-spot ladybug in one survey. National Geographic states on its website that ladybugs vary from one-third of an inch to two-fifths of an inch in length. While size is not a perfect indicator of an individual ladybug's gender, males are slightly smaller than females.

Mating

• If you see two ladybugs in the process of mating, it's easy to tell which is male. During mating, the male ladybug will mount the female and grab her elytra -- "the outer hard shell-like wings of the ladybug," explains LadybugLady.com. In that scenario, the ladybug on top is male.

Microscopes

• According to the Ladybug Lady website, the only way to be sure of a ladybug's gender is to see its sexual organs. Because ladybugs are so small, however, you can't see those organs with the naked eye. Under a microscope, and with an entomologist -- a scientist who studies insects -- as a guide, you could clearly see that a male ladybug has tiny, hair-like structures on the last segment of his body, whereas a female does not.