It's not often that entomology and football mesh.
But that was the case when San Francisco 49'ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk credited his spectacular 51-yard catch in Sunday's NFC championship game with the Detroit Lions to a ladybug landing on his shoe before the game.
Aiyuk dove for the ball as it bounced off the helmet of Lions' cornerback Kindle Vildora and cradled it. A few minutes later, Aiyuk scored a touchdown on a six-yard pass, erasing the 14-point deficit. The 49'ers went on to win the game 34-31.
"Before the game, a ladybug landed on my shoe, and y'all know what that means," Aiyuk told Fox Sports' Erin Andrews after the win. "So that's all I can say because other than that I don't know. Just great luck."
Talk about a beneficial insect. It not only eats aphids but helps win football games!
The ladybug is actually a beetle (Coleoptera), not a bug (Hemiptera), but sports reporters--as do nearly everyone else 'cept entomologists--call it by its common name.
The lady beetle is associated with good luck because it eats the aphids that try to destroy our crops. It can eat as many as 5000 aphids in its lifetime, scientists estimate.
"These beetles have become a cultural icon of sorts because of their appearance and their beneficial habits," writes UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, in her insect fact sheet on lady beetles. "Both adults and larvae feed on aphids and other small, soft-bodied insects...They are ferocious predators on small insects." (See what the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program says about lady beetles.)
Questions remain about that insect landing on Aiyuk's shoe. How many spots did it have? Did it fly away? Was its house burning? Were its children home? What was the gender?
Ladybug! Ladybug!
Fly away home.
Your house is on fire.
And your children all gone.
--Nursery Rhyme
Just wait for someone to bring congregations of lady beetles to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas for the 49'ers-Kansas City Chiefs matchup. Or maybe an artist will paint their shoes or helmets with the icon, or a seamstress will embroider the insect on their jerseys.
Luck be a lady?
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