Red Milkweed Beetle. This is the same chemical defense strategy practiced by other milkweed eaters such as monarch butterfly. Tetraopes tetrophthalmus feeds on asclepias syriaca throughout its range farrell 1991.
This clever creature bites through the midrib of the leaf in a few spots near the leaf tip. The red milkweed beetle known scientifically as the tetraopes tetrophthalmus lives primarily in the eastern united states and canada. Hartman 1977 though an isolated population in a disturbed site in illinois was reported on a.
Research shows that the milkweed bug also feeds on other plants.
Salutations bugfans red milkweed beetle. Both want the seeds. The antennal base actually bisects the eye. Red milkweed beetles are not the only red and black insects you can find on milkweeds.