They are small, they fly and they usually have a light brown outer shell that makes them resemble cute ladybugs.

But the multicolored Asian lady beetle is no lady, some say, and hordes of them are invading homes across northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.

Dr. Michael T. Balas, associate professor of biology at Thiel College in Greenville, said the beetle is related to same family as ladybugs.

"The general behavior is to move inside when weather gets cooler," Balas said. "But it's really not clear why we seem to be having a greater incidence of them."

According to a fact sheet from the College of Agricultural Sciences Cooperative Extension at the University of Penn State's Shenango Campus, the first Asian beetles were first observed in Pennsylvania in 1993.