dawn raid

good lady bettle

bad pumpkin bettle

These are pumpkin beetles and on closer inspection the only way they really resemble lady bugs is their bright colour and spots. Iam just going to have to accept the fact that occasionally I will have to wear my reading glasses while doing the gardening.
This morning I launched a dawn raid (well it was close to dawn anyway) and my mission was amazingly successful.   Two beetles got away from me.   That I have found is another way to tell they are not lady bugs, the pumpkin beetle moves a lot faster than the ladies.  This afternoon I was back to the zucchini patch and found two pumkin beetles.   One got away but then as I was about to leave two little ones landed.  These were accordingly erradicated but now it looks like they have stepped up the battle by sending in a second offensive.