Small Milkweed Bug

Meet a Small Milkweed Bug. Although I've talked about them a little in a post about the similar-looking False Milkweed Bug, it doesn't look like I've showed a picture of the Small Milkweed Bug.

This is yet another example of insect aposematism, where their red coloring signals to potential predators that these bugs are poisonous. Presumably they acquire their poisonousness in the same way that Monarch butterflies, Large Milkweed Bugs, and Red Milkweed Beetles acquire theirs - they get it by eating poisonous milkweed plants.

There's a lot to compare and contrast with the Small Milkweed Bug and their Large Milkweed Bug cousins. Though both love to eat the seed pods of milkweed plants, the SMB has been known to feed on other plants and to actually eat some insects on occasion (including Monarchs). And while LMBs have a migration strategy based on following the milkweed crops, the SMBs can overwinter as (dormant) adults.

July 10, 2021 at Duke Farms
Photo 148186194, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


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