Ladybird larva!

While checking out the native garden today I saw these two strange critters on a dried up California Delta sunflower.

It turns out we are blessed - they are the larva of the Asian ladybeetle, aka harlequin, multicolored Asian ladybeetle Harmonia axyridis .

It's so interesting that the larva is almost three times the size of the adult ladybeetle.

The adults vary in color from orange to red, with anywhere from zero to twenty-two spots.

And they gobble up the aphids, so we're glad to have them in our garden.