Lady Bug and Aphids

These are almost certainly invasive Oleander Aphids (aka Milkweed Aphids) meeting their worst nightmare, a ladybug.

Our milkweeds are hosts for lots of native insects (Monarch Butterflies being the most famous), but these non-native aphids not only crowd out the natives but also seem to do more damage to the milkweeds. Fortunately for us, ladybugs in particular consider aphids to be delicious. (Although I think ladybugs can eat a lot of aphids, it looks like this milkweed has more aphids than this ladybug will be able to eat.)

There are a lot of similar-looking ladybugs; this one might be yet another non-native species, the Seven-spotted Ladybug. It sounds like they were intentionally introduced to the US specifically to control plant-eating insects, though as they out-compete native insects it's unclear whether they're more of a benefit or a problem.


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