The East Coast has been inundated with two broods of cicadas. At my house, on the other hand, we’ve had an emergence of ladybugs.

Ladybug larva are not among the prettiest creatures of the earth. At least one expert compared them to tiny alligators — grey with rough skin. But the larva gobble up soft-bodied insects like aphids and emerging scale, just like their adult counterparts.

They go through several “instars” or stages of larvae, just like caterpillars do. But after the fourth instar, they clamp their mouths to a leaf or stem, they undergo metamorphosis, and then wriggle out of their old carapace to become full-fledged ladybugs.

This is the empty carapace of a ladybug larvae.

A newly-emerged ladybug scampers past a larvae beginning metamorphosis.

It’s just in time, too, because my roses were being eaten up by aphids.