False Milkweed Bug

Here's a False Milkweed Bug. I previously mentioned these guys when I talked about the Large Milkweed Bug. Notice that this bug is not on a milkweed or a dogbane plant; this (combined with an insect that looks like the Large or Small Milkweed Bug) is always a strong clue that this is a False Milkweed Bug. (It sounds like the Large and Small Milkweed Bugs will occasionally use non-milkweed and non-dogbane plants as a host when their preferred plants are scarce, but I haven't actually observed that happening.)

These guys are taxonomically true and false. Though not a true milkweed bug, the False milkweed bug is a true bug, just like the Large and Small Milkweed Bugs.

Regarding the False Milkweed Bug's similarity to the Large and Small Milkweed Bugs, I had always assumed they were a case of Batesian mimicry, where a harmless species has evolved to look similar to poisonous species. It sounds, however, that we haven't ruled out that the False Milkweed Bug might have evolved from a milkweed-eating (and thus poisonous) ancestor, and retains that red/orange coloring even though it's no longer poisonous.



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