What I found on my lime tree

When J was a baby, she ate a ladybug. It was crawling innocently amongst the grass, and I thought she’d be interested so I pointed it out. She took a curious look, then faster than I could react she picked it up and stuffed it in her mouth. My sister in law still rates it as the funniest thing she’s ever seen.

Yesterday I found this crazy ladybug on my lime tree. It was so shiny I could see my own reflection* in it.

Brief googling tells me that this is a steelblue ladybug Halmus chalybeus. It apparently eats scale, so I decided he could stay there. If he ended up being one of those nasty plant-eating ladybugs, I might have been forced to give him to J. I’m pretty sure that she wouldn’t have eaten him nowadays. She’s the master of excuses as to why she can’t eat anything at all.

Nowadays I think she’d just love it to death.

*Go on – click on the picture for the large version – you can see my reflection!