We have a river birch tree at school, and there is a kind of aphid that loves river birches. Fortunately, ladybugs love to eat aphids, so we have a pretty cool daily biology study on the playground. We’ve found lots and lots of eggs, and several ladybugs, and several gross ‘baby’ ladybugs, that look like black and red crocodiles. Today we found a leaf where the eggs were hatching and the tiny, pinprick-size critters were moving about. We looked at them through a microscope.
You know that sweet little nursery rhyme? “Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home. Your house is on fire because your children are tiny, horrible monsters that devour pale aphids moments after hatching.”
(Note, it is very hard to take pictures with an iPad through a microscope.)