Dogbane Leaf Beetle

Here's one of my favorite beetles, the Dogbane Leaf Beetle. If you like shiny things, you're going to love Dogbane Leaf Beetles. They're almost like jewelry for plants.

These guys are one of those insects that will feed on both dogbanes and milkweeds; in fact I suspect this little fella is probably on a Common Milkweed. (The leaves look a little large for a dogbane.)

Both dogbane and milkweed (two types of plants in the Apocynaceae family) have a sticky, poisonous latex-ish substance you can see if you break a leaf. Many insects that eat these plants end up being poisonous, or at least foul-tasting, to eat. And most of these signal their poisonousness to potential predators by flaunting red/orange coloring (e.g. Monarch Butterflies, Large and Small Milkweed Bugs). It's likely that the Dogbane Leaf Beetle accomplishes the same thing with its shininess - predators are able to distinguish them from tastier, more nutritious insects.

They do look a little like an invasive insect pest, the Japanese Beetle, a larger, duller beetle that's a little bit colorful (and much more abundant). But they're not closely related; Japanese Beetles are Scarab Beetles while Dogbane Leaf Beetles are (not too surprisingly) Leaf Beetles.

Dogbane Leaf Beetle at Duke Farms

Dogbane Leaf Beetle at Duke Farms


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