Hardly a Lady

Noticed this beetle on my Swamp Milkweed plants. It was munching on aphids. This is an Asian Lady Beetle, not to be confused with our native Lady Bird Beetles aka Lady Bugs. The Asian Lady Beetle is an introduced species which eats the native Lady Bird Beetles and other helpful insects. They can also bite! Yikes! I allowed this one to enjoy a 'last meal' and then dispatched it. I'm not proud of that but sometimes it must be done. Here's a link to help you identify the two very similar beetles. https://www.domyown.com/asian-lady-beetle-identification-guide-a-713.html