The forecast: cloudy with a chance of insects. What looked like precipitation on a US weather radar was actually a migrating swarm of beetles.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Perlman
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A giant blob that appeared on the US National Weather Service's radar wasn't a rain cloud, but a massive "bloom" of ladybugs flying over Southern California.
The National Weather Service's radar showed a green mass moving over San Diego on Tuesday that meteorologist Joe Dandrea said was about 80 miles wide (130 kilometers).
Dandrea told the Los Angeles Times that the ladybugs are flying at between 5,000 and 9,000 feet (1,525 and 2,745 meters) with the most concentrated mass 10 miles wide.
Rather than being a dense cloud they are spread throughout the sky.
It wasn't clear which one of the 200 ladybug species in California caused the phenomenon.
The Times reported that Hippodamia convergens, the convergent lady beetle, mates and migrates from the Sierra Nevada mountain range to valleys in the early spring to eat aphids and lay eggs.
They then return to higher elevations in the early summer when aphid numbers decline.
Megabugs: 10 of the largest insects in the world
From butterflies with immense wingspans to creepy crawlies with the longest legs of their kind, here are some of the largest insects in the animal kingdom.
Image: picture-alliance/Bruce Colem/A. Blank
Macrodontia cervicornis
This beetle can measure up to 17cm in length, in part thanks to its enormous mandibles - the pair of appendages near its mouth. Also known as the 'sabertooth longhorn beetle' this insect dwells in the rainforests of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, the Guianas and Brazil.
Image: picture-alliance/AFP Creative/J. Saget
Giant weta
There are 11 species of the giant weta in the world, and the largest can be up to 10cm in length - not including their spindly legs or long antennae. They're also known to be rather heavy - with one example recording 70g. The beetles are unique to New Zealand, and all but one species are considered endangered.
Image: picture-alliance/WILDLIFE/M. Carwadine
Goliath beetle
Among the largest insects on earth, the Goliath beetle can measure up to 11cm and weigh 100 grams in the larval stage (although adults are around half this weight). There are five species of Goliath beetle. They're found in tropical rainforests in Africa, where they mainly eat tree sap and fruit.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/B. Trapp
Queen Alexandra's birdwing
This butterfly is the largest in the world, with females' wingspans reaching just over 25cm. An endangered species, it is restricted to about 100km of coastal rainforest in the Oro Province in eastern Papua New Guinea. The species was named in 1907 in honor of Alexandra of Denmark.
Image: Mark Joy
Tarantula hawk wasp
This is what's known as a 'spider wasp' because - yep, you guessed it - it hunts tarantula spiders. They use their sting - one of the most painful insect stings in the world - to paralyze their prey before hauling it to their nest, where they lay a single egg on the victim, which when it hatches to a larva eats the prey alive. At about 5cm long, it's one of the largest wasps in the animal kingdom.
Image: picture-alliance/Mary Evans Picture Library/K. Lucas
Atlas beetle
This is a species of rhinoceros beetle, known for its feisty behavior. Named after Atlas, a Titan condemned to hold up the sky for eternity in Greek mythology, the male beetles can reach up to 13cm in length. They're found in southern Asia, particularly Indonesia.
The giant water bug encompasses a large species of carnivorous freshwater insects, which includes the 'Lethocerus' that can grow to more than 12cm in length. Their large foreleg pincers are used to catch underwater prey like small fish and frogs. In some places they're known as 'toe biters' because of their tendency to deliver a painful nip when disturbed by swimmers that get too close.
Image: picture-alliance /Bruce Colem/J. Dermit
Atlas moth
This insect may have a tiny body, but it's wingspan measures a whopping 25-30cm, and it has a wing surface area of about 400cm squared. It lives in dry rainforests and shrublands throughout South Asia, South East Asia, and East Asia. It doesn't eat - it's only purpose as an adult is to find a mate, which takes around two weeks. Once they breed and the females lay eggs, they die.
Image: picture-alliance/chromorange/C. Wojtkowski
Praying mantis
This exquisite insect is usually between 1.5cm and 16cm long, but can reach lengths of up to 20cm. They are carnivorous and feed mainly on other insects, although females sometimes eat their mate just after, or even during, mating. Formidable predators, the praying mantis can turn its head 180 degrees to observe its surroundings with all five of its eyes.
Image: picture-alliance/Bruce Colem/A. Blank
Phryganistria chinensis Zhao
Only officially discovered in 2016, the only recorded spotting of this superbly long stick insect measured it at 62.4cm. Found in the Guangxi Zhuang region of China by Zhao Li, of the Insect Museum of West China, it's the longest insect in the world. Li brought it back to the museum where it laid six eggs - after hatching, even the smallest offspring measured 26cm.