Invasion of cannibal ladybirds carrying STIs wreaks havoc in homes across the UK
CANNIBAL ladybirds which carry a sexually transmitted infection are wreaking havoc across the country.
Thousands of people have reported swarms of the alien bugs besieging their homes.
The Harlequin ladybird, also known as the Halloween Ladybug, carries a fungal STI that infects other insects, has an unpleasant stink and stains furniture.
They eat other ladybirds and have even been known to bite people.
The invasion comes after seven schools in East London were shut due to an infestation of poisonous false widow spiders.
Experts say the hot summer has boosted Harlequin bug numbers.
They fly in from Asia and North America on mild autumn winds.
Since first being spotted in Britain 14 years ago, the Harlequin is now the second most common species.
It has sparked fears for native seven-spot and two-spot ladybirds.
The latter’s numbers have halved since 2004.
Swarms of the foreign bugs have been reported in Birmingham, Manchester, Norfolk, Loughborough and Gloucester.
Man United defender Phil Jones and former team-mate Jonny Evans, now with Leicester City, have both had to call in exterminators.
Jonny’s wife Helen tweeted: “They’re invading my house! Driving me mad!”
Berwyn Evans, of Rentokil, said: “The unusually hot summer created perfect conditions for ladybirds to thrive.
They seek buildings in large numbers to hibernate in over colder months.”
Brits have taken to social media to share footage of the Harlequin variety of ladybirds swarm around doors and windows.
Professor Helen Roy at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, who organises the UK Ladybird Survey, told BBC: "It's quite a wildlife spectacle to see."
She said that the reports had first started in the north of England as the weather started to turn.
It comes after the Met Office last month confirmed the sky-high average temperatures of 17.2C from June to August had made the summer a record-breaking scorcher.
The deluge normally comes around this time of year, with a woman filming the insects pelting her countryside home as they sought shelter.
Margaret, who lives just outside of Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, said the three-day pelting was "like something out of Hitchcock's 'The Birds'".
Margaret said: "I was lucky I noticed it was happening as they just came out of nowhere and started hitting the window and streaming in.
"It was a struggle to close the window as I didn't want to squash any of them and by then they were already all over the window frame."
It's not the first time the loveliness of ladybirds have swarmed homes.
Residents in the town of Lipova, in western Romania, were forced to seal up their homes after the beetles descended in 2014.
Locals said they were so many it was like a "living carpet", and that they had to shovel them out.
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