Mealybug Ladybird Larvae

We chased this Mealy Bug around the leaves for quite a while . We thought that the bits on his back were probably eggs but we were wrong again.
According to Prof Google, the male mates with the female, and then dies while the female lays her eggs in a cocoon-like web on the underside of a leaf (and we saw many of them) and then it also dies. So on the basis of that, it is not a parent transporting eggs just as the shot from two nights ago is not a parent carrying babies. So who knows what it is? Maybe the caterpillar from last night put shit on it - literally.
To get an idea of scale, the branch it is on is about 2mm thick.

[Sam]

Poppo, I probably have no idea what I'm talking about however check this page out - the photos do look very similar to what your photo is showing: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials/beneficial-15_ladybug_mealybug_destroyer.htm

[Poppo Livy]

@gigiflower Hey man, you're spinning me out!!!

[Sam]

@terryliv Are we on a winner?

[Poppo Livy]

Rhoda here. Terry watching the football. We reckon you are right. Thanks

[Poppo Livy]

@gigiflower See Rhoda's comment above. I'll fix it tomorrow. Going to bed. :-(

[Sam]

@terryliv YAY!!!! goodnight Poppo and Rhoda :)

[Merrelyn]

So maybe this is something you want in the garden 😀

[Richard Brown]

Bit of a tragic love story by all accounts :) Great capture

[Debbie]

So it looks like you've just captured the last moments of this little Mealy Bugs life, before it was devoured alive.

[Lynne]

Wonderful

[Tony]

Wow !! What a story behind that lovely macro shot.

[Connie Little]

Such a weird looking insect. Another great close up of a mealy bug.

[Poppo Livy]

@littleconnie @tonydebont @lynne5477 @deborah63 @rjb71 @merrelyn Thanks to some detective work by @gigiflower, I think we can safely say that this is not a mealybug but the larval stage of the Mealybug Ladybird or Mealybug Destroyer, a beetle that feeds off mealybugs and sometimes aphids. Its scientific name is Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, and is a ladybird species endemic to Queensland and New South Wales. You can actually buy a tube of 200 larvae for $59.40 on the internet. So he really is one of the good guys. Pity about the fact that we put all the ones we pruned off the dwarf pomegranate into the rubbish bin.
The things you learn on 365.
I guess the next step is to get a shot of the adult beetle.

[Sam]

@terryliv :)

[Rachel]

Now I was going to say that it looked a lot like ladybird larvae. Great shot.

[Debbie]

@terryliv Damn... if you have had of know before yuo ditched the ones from the Pomegranate plant, you could have made some cash