Stephanie Lauer hates ladybugs - the tiny, red, flying beetles that are considered good luck by many.

The nursing sophomore said the bugs, correctly dubbed lady beetles, infested her Wonders Hall dorm room last semester.

“We had hundreds of them in our room and we could not get rid of them,” she said. “They were all over our clothes and beds - they were everywhere.”

Lauer isn’t the only one who is annoyed with this beetle.

The ladybug population had been unusually high in the Lower Peninsula in Michigan this year, said Howard Russell, an MSU entomologist in diagnostics service.

He said the type of beetle many residents are seeing is a relatively new species called the multicolored Asian lady beetle. The beetle was brought over to the United States to protect pecan trees in the South, but possibly jumped freighters and accidentally came to Michigan.

“In winter it likes to live in structures including people’s homes,” Russell said. “They gather and collect on south and west facing walls where it is warm and get into nooks and crannies.”

Russell said the beetle could be numerous because its natural enemies do not habitat Michigan. He also said Michigan has a large number of soybean aphid, which the beetle feeds on.

What makes the Asian beetle different from common beetles is they are slightly larger and they bite.

“It does bite but they are not blood-sucking,” Russell said. “They are not attempting to eat us - it is more of a reaction to landing on something.”

Students and residents annoyed with the beetle are going to have to wait a few more weeks until it leaves.

“We had to keep calling maintenance because nothing we did was working,” Lauer said. “We were killing them with shoes and trying to vacuum them up with a little dust buster, but nothing worked.”

Russell said not much can be done to get rid of the beetle, but people can prevent them by caulking and sealing the outside and inside of their houses in the summer.

“The best thing to do now is just sweep them up and throw them outside or flush them down the toilet,” he said. “People will need to be patient for a few more weeks and they will go away on their own.”

Packaging freshman Justin Ptak, though, said he doesn’t mind having the beetle in his dorm room.

“They are actually crawling all over,” he said. “But I like them, they are supposed to be good luck.”

And according to Russell, while beetles bringing good luck is most likely just a folklore, they are helpful by eating other bugs that kill plants.

Russell also said to expect to see the same high numbers of lady beetles next year as well.

Lauer still hopes Russell’s prediction is wrong.

“If they come back like they did I will be disgusted,” she said. “I don’t like the feeling of going to bed with bugs all over my room.”