A few weeks ago, I stopped to pick up an aquatic turtle on my way to work. That evening I relocated it to one of our local retaining ponds. While I was out at the pond, I found all sorts of interesting things to photograph including quite a few seven spotted ladybugs (Coccinella septempuncata). There were several plants that had a bunch of ladybugs crawling around on them, hunting aphids. Watching them scurrying around in their search was actually pretty interesting. They were surprisingly speedy when they wanted to be. Like the Asian multicolored ladybeetle, these ladybugs are not native to the United States (however they are the state insect of not just one, but five different states!). They were imported in the 1950s (and multiple times since then) to help control aphids on crops. They actually come from Europe and Asia, and are the most common ladybirds in much of Europe. They are commonly found on crops, in gardens, marshes, wooded areas, swamps, and field or any other place where there are aphids. They are definitely one of those insects that people love to see in their gardens and really just love in general.