who knew?

Do you know what these little bugs are? 

Me either.  They started popping up all over our greenhouse in various sizes.  Some are tiny.  Some are pretty decent sized. I was beginning to worry about what we were getting infested with.

Turns out these little guys are baby ladybugs.  Seriously.  I thought baby ladybugs would just look like mini versions of the cute adult bugs.  After doing a little research I learned that they actually have a pretty interesting life cycle.  I had no idea that they started out like this before a short period of metamorphosis.  The ladybugs are busy doing their thing.

I'm planning on  bringing a few to school to watch with my second graders since we just went through the whole life cycle of a butterfly.  I'm sure they will be just as interested as we are.  We keep looking for the pupa attached to our greens, but we haven't seen any yet.  This greenhouse sure keeps us on our toes.