In England, a ladybug is called a ladybird.

If a friend in England points out a ladybird, you do not need to look for a bird in a tree. They may be pointing to the little insect you call a ladybug.

One insect, two everyday names

Cambridge Dictionary labels ladybird as the UK term and ladybug as the US term. So the difference reaches beyond England: it is a difference in varieties of English. Neither name means we are talking about a different family of insects.

Another member of the beetle club

The Natural History Museum places ladybirds in the beetle family Coccinellidae. That means our firefly story and our ladybird story have a family resemblance: both are about beetles, though they belong to different beetle families.

And ladybirds are more varied than the classic red-and-black picture suggests. The museum describes harlequin ladybirds with red, orange and even black backgrounds, and different spot patterns.