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Small Milkweed Bug - Lygaeus kalmii
Order Heteroptera (Latreille, 1810) -- barbeiro, maria fedida,
percevejo, true bugs
/ Family Lygaeidae (Schilling, 1829) -- chinch
bugs, punaises des céréales, seed bugs / Genus Lygaeus (Fabricius, 1794)
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| Both small and large milkweed bugs have incomplete metamorphosis. The nymphs
(immatures) look like the adults except that they do not have full wings and
their color pattern is different. Black wing pads appear early in their
development. Nymphs have bright
orange abdomens, and
usually molt 5 times.
(5 nymphal instars (stages) before becoming an
adult). Eggs take about 1 week to hatch and a month to
become adults.
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I don't often see the small milkweed bug on milkweed. These specimens
are nectaring on wild parsnip.
The long, seed-piercing proboscis is evident in this
photo.
| Milkweed bugs are usually found in groups on milkweed plants, often on the
underside of the leaves.
I have seen them in conglomerations of hundreds. The
plant produces a milky white sap when a leaf is removed. These plants are large
(3-4 feet high) with sprays of small white flowers in the summer. In the fall,
seed pods develop which are 4 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. When the seeds
ripen, the seed pods open up releasing the seeds which float on fluffy white
parasols. Milkweed bugs can be found on seed pods piercing the wall of the pod
to feed on seeds. Milkweed bugs are one of a small group of insects that
have the ability to tolerate the toxic (poisonous) compounds in the milkweed
plant. They are therefore important in regulating populations of this plant. Milkweed bugs have few predators because they concentrate in their bodies bad
tasting compounds found in the sap of milkweed plants. The bugs use their bright
colors to advertise their bad taste. Inexperienced birds that taste their first
milkweed bug are unlikely to try to eat another orange and black insect,
such as a
Monarch or
Viceroy
butterfly. |
 
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