INSECTS: Assassin bugs and lady beetles

I took advantage of a warm afternoon to stroll around the yard looking for spotted lanternfly eggs that I could eradicate. I didn't find any, but I did see on the trunk of a sweet gum a mysterious hexagonal cluster, about an inch across, of what looked like 1:50-scale sushi rolls. A friend on social media quickly identified them as the eggs of an assassin bug, which, although it can deliver a nasty bite, also eats many garden pests (hence the name). I'll leave them in situ.

A cluster of assassin bug eggs on a sweet gum trunk.

Speaking of insects, a farmer friend who lives near Hawk Mountain was recently bitten on the wrist by a ladybug -- not the cute kind, but its aggressive lookalike, an Asian lady beetle. Her arm swelled up and became hot, red and itchy, and her doctor said she'd never seen such a bad reaction. She was OK the next day and returned to tapping her maple trees. Although both insects are small, round, and red with black spots, the beetle has a white M-shaped spot on its head, just above the red part.