NORMAL - Bug experts in Central Illinois say Asian ladybugs have overpowered other native species in this area too.

The Asian ladybug was introduced here as a biological control agent over decades, primarily for aphids wreaking havoc on orchards, said Doug Whitman, an entomologist at Illinois State University.

Trouble was they also have a real taste for soybean aphids, which sustained native ladybugs, said Don Meyer, director of the University of Illinois Extension, McLean County office.

"The problem is, as far as ladybugs go, they've been too effective," said Whitman. Other ladybug species also rely on aphids, but Asian ladybugs are eating a greater share.

"In some places, other species actually now are extinct," he added.

The ISU scientist said he started noticing the change in ladybug demographics nearly 20 years ago.

"I first noticed it around 1990, out in the field doing my work," said Whitman. "There's not much we can do about it, other than to observe it," he said.

In this part of the country, the takeover has been even more noticeable in the last four or five years, said Meyer.

He likes the idea of the Cornell Lost Ladybug Project including younger school children in the documentation of the ladybug populations.

Organizers of the New York project say one goal is to get average citizens, and children in particular, excited about the natural sciences.

Here in McLean County, children haven't officially been participating, but he noted some members of 4-H collect insects around the county each year, showing their results at the McLean County Fair.

"Think about it. As humans we're one single species, but there's a million species of insects," he said.

Whitman said the changes we see in ladybug populations reflect a broader issue.

"Because of globalization, the U.S. is under invasion of a lot of foreign pests - and not just the Asian ladybug. There's also the Gypsy moth, the Emerald Ash Borer, Zebra mussels," he said.

But it's not just bugs. Plants and infectious diseases also come along with globalization, he said, noting the loss of Elm trees to Dutch Elm disease half a century ago.

"It's a biological war," said Whitman.

The Asian ladybug species, native to China, likes to spend winters in rock crevices - so that's why people tend to notice swarms of the bugs on the siding of their homes, or clinging to the interior of attics they sneak inside, said Whitman.

Despite the abundance of the species, the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't consider it a threat. So people aren't encouraged to rid the area of Asian ladybugs, Meyer said.

"You could sweep them out of your house, or caulk the crevices," said Meyer, but that's about it.