Marie - hand puppet for babies by Sterntaler

Hardly any insect enjoys such a good reputation: a ladybird settling on your hand is said to bring luck. The ladybird hand puppet Marie by Sterntaler turns this good-luck insect into a figure with a face, antennae and a spotted wing case, and she wears a striped dress. Marie takes the friendly part that frightens nobody. On Sterntaler’s CD ‘Kasperle-Geschichten 2’ the ladybird plays in three of the eight stories, and you are free to cast the other roles however you like.

Ladybirds (Coccinellidae) form a beetle family found worldwide, with more than 6,000 species. The body is domed and, depending on the species, only 1 to 12 millimetres long. The best-known European representative, the seven-spot ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata), reaches 5.2 to 8 millimetres and carries three black spots on each red wing case. Many species feed on aphids and scale insects and are valued as beneficial insects in gardens and orchards. As a larva alone, a ladybird may eat up to 3,000 aphids or spider mites, depending on the species. In central Europe a ladybird usually lives for one year and overwinters just once, often in large clusters. When threatened, it releases a yellowish secretion from its joint membranes, a defence known as reflex bleeding.

Did you know that the spots on the wing cases say nothing about a beetle’s age? The idea is widespread, yet wrong: the number of spots is a feature of the species. A seven-spot keeps its seven spots for life, a two-spot its two.