New York’s State Bug Returns After 30 Year Absence

The Nine-Spotted Lady Bug has long been the state bug of New York but officials nearly changed that fact recently after the little creatures were nowhere to be found for nearly 30 years.

Now the New York Times reports that the insects have made a re-emergence in the area after a volunteer with the Lost Ladybug Project discovered a nine-spotted ladybug in Amagansett. Speaking with the New York Times the bugs discoverer Peter Priolo says:

“I didn’t realize it was a nine-spotted when I found it,” and “I put it in my jar and hurried back to meet with everybody.”

Enough bugs since that first discovery have been found to start a “thriving colony” in a lab located at Cornell University and from there they hope the bugs will re-emerge in the state.

After the first bug was found on the Amagansett farm researchers found 20 more, yet they still remain rare with only 90 found throughout the United States since 2006.

According to a Cornell researcher:

“We need to find out more places where it’s thriving.’

If researchers find other areas where the bug is thriving they may re-introduce their lab bugs in that area which could mean another departure for the nine-spotted ladybug from New York City.