When the adult first emerges, it is a pale orange with faint markings. It extends its wings to dry and rests until its shell hardens and begins to show its true colors. The total time from egg to adult is usually 5 to 6 weeks, depending on temperature. There seems to be some disagreement whether the new adult then repeats the cycle, producing several generations a season, or whether successive generations are really overlapping hatches from eggs laid throughout the summer by the adults that wintered over from the season before. As winter, approaches, adult aphids cease feeding and seek shelter for hibernations.
Different species have favorite hibernation locations.
Some prefer leaf litter at the base of bushes in their home habitat. Others migrate to wooded areas in nearby mountains to hibernate in leaf litter near the base of a tree, under rocks or fallen logs. Although some species hibernate alone or in small groups, others gather in clumps of hundreds or thousands, tending to seek the same sites year after year. Collectors in California have found colonies containing as many as 500 gallons of beetles, each gallon containing 72,000 to 80,000 beetles. It is unclear how long most species live but the multicolored Asian lady beetle can live up to three years.