The path to enlightenment is never smooth.

Several years ago the answer to the simple question about a discovery found in the vegie garden, ‘What eggs are these?’ resulted in much angst (click HERE). Using book and web resources to identify adult insects is hard enough. Identifying insects by their larvae is even harder and by their eggs, nigh on impossible unless you’re an expert. To answer the question the eggs were placed in a jar until they hatched. This resulted in the positive identification of the larvae but their subsequent release back into the garden was not a great success. They grew into bugs that decimated the tomato crop that year.

So when the same question was asked of a similar vegie patch discovery this year, caution was observed. The eggs in question, pictured left, were yellow and clustered on the underside of a vegetable leaf. The eggs were again placed in a jar and did not hatch until the leaf to which they were attached was a dried scrap.

The resultant larvae, pictured right, looked more like tiny iguanas than anything else but easily identifiable – ladybird beetle babies. Adult beetles and their larvae are highly beneficial in the vegie patch as they voracious consumers of aphids. No dramas in reintroducing these into the wild.

Occasionally the path to enlightenment is smooth.