Thursday, December 22, 2005

ASCLEPIAS OR MILKWEED. Its Many Visitors

Plants of the genus Asclepias, better known as milkweeds because of its white, sticky sap, attract a huge variety of insects and other creatures. Its most famous resident is the monarch butterfly that depends on milkweeds for nutrition; but it is not the only one. Here is a small sample of the menagerie that you can find on a single plant of Asclepias.

Milkweed beetle, Tetraopes tetrophthalmus (the four-eyed one)


Silver spotted skipper


Leaf-footed bug, with eggs of a parasitic fly on top of its head


Lady bug in search of aphids.