Backyard Nature Wednesday: Milkweed bugs

We know about the relationship between some butterflies and milkweed.
Monarchs are the most famous example.

But Queens also depend on milkweed.

That dependence is related to the production of the next generations. Their caterpillars have to have milkweed to develop. Here is a Monarch cat.

And here's the Queen caterpillar.

But there are other insects that also love milkweed. For example, milkweed is like an aphid magnet, and where there are aphids, you are also sure to find the ladybugs that love to munch on them.

 There is another insect, though, that is so tied to milkweed that it even has the plant in its name. It is the milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus).
The milkweed bug feeds on the leaves, stems, and seeds of milkweed and it bears the same orange and black colors as the butterflies that depend on milkweed. Those colors warn would-be predators that the insects contain toxins from the plants on which they feed. 

Several of my milkweed plants currently have whole colonies of milkweed bugs living on them and, as you can see, some of them are busily working to create even more of the sucking insects. In spite of the fact that they feed on the plants, they don't seem to do any real damage. The plants are thriving and so are the bugs.

Comments

  1. JayneMay 4, 2016 at 3:19 PM

    I always wondered if those were good bugs or bad bugs. I have thriving colonies too - I'll just let them be :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMay 4, 2016 at 3:48 PM

      I let mine be, too. As far as I can tell, they do no significant harm - unlike the aphids.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousMay 4, 2016 at 3:19 PM

    Thank you for this beautiful post

    ReplyDelete
  3. CarmenMay 5, 2016 at 1:30 PM

    Love the pics! Informative post as well.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Judy KruegerMay 6, 2016 at 2:27 AM

    I have seen those bugs in my yard before, mostly at my last house. Good to know they are harmless!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMay 6, 2016 at 9:46 AM

      I think they are pretty much ubiquitous wherever there is milkweed and the plant seems to be able to tolerate them very well.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...
Read more

The Investigator by John Sandford: A review

Image
  I have read a few of John Sandford's books in the Prey series featuring Lucas Davenport. This book is a literal offspring of that series. It's the first in a series featuring Davenport's adopted daughter Letty Davenport. Letty is in her mid-20s and a graduate of Stanford. She works for a U.S. senator named Christopher Colles in a desk job but she's bored with her assignments. Then the senator offers her a chance to go into the field as a liaison between his office and the Department of Homeland Security.  In her first assignment in that position, she is sent to Texas along with DHS investigator John Kaiser to try to find out what is happening in regard to thefts of crude oil. The senator is not so concerned about the lost oil but wants to know where the money from its sale is going. Who is selling the oil and what they are doing with the profits? The suspicion is that a particularly nasty militia group led by a woman is involved. Letty and Kaiser head out to Texas, de...
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...
Read more