Large Milkweed Bug

Here’s a Large Milkweed Bug I met. Around me, this is probably the most common milkweed-eating insect other than aphids (and the aphids are so small you might mistake them for a rust or other fungus).

They can be confused with the Small Milkweed Bug or the False Milkweed Bug. Both lack the straight black bar across the top of its wings, and the latter isn’t found on milkweeds (which are poisonous to many animals).

Note the orange/red on these bugs. Like Monarch butterflies, these insects eat the poisonous milkweeds and obtain a certain amount of poisonous protection for themselves. And the distinctive red coloring signals to predators that these guys aren’t good to eat. (Of course, sometimes orange/red coloring is a fake. AFAIK the False Milkweed Bug is safe to eat, and benefit from Batesian mimicry.)





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