Can someone identify this bug?

[adkii]

I found this bug on my milkweed plant. It was putting silk stuff on the the stem.

[CLC]

I think it's a milkweed stem weevil. They lay their eggs inside the stem.

[rainbowgardener]

Wow! Good job, CLC, I think you nailed it. Another bug I've never seen. Here's a nice little article on all the different critters that specialize in milkweed:

https://www4.uwm.edu/fieldstation/natur ... itters.cfm

Both adult and immature insects that eat milkweed at some part of their life cycle are poisonous to their predators because of the toxic cardiac glycosides contained in milkweed sap. The BugLady read of one study in which, after captive Blue jays were fed monarch caterpillars, they threw themselves against the sides of the cage to avoid the next batch of caterpillars that was put into the cage.

Note that many of these critters are brightly colored with lots of red/orange. Red is a warning sign throughout the animal kingdom -- don't eat me, I am poisonous! Good tasting animals camouflage themselves. Bad tasting toxic ones tend to stand out. Except that some of the good tasting ones "camouflage" themselves, by mimicking the toxic ones, pretending to be toxic.



On the left is a monarch butterfly, which is toxic, because its caterpillars feed exclusively on milkweed. On the right is a viceroy butterfly, which is not toxic, but dares birds and other predators to find that out!

(A little off the topic, but I love fascinating bits of natural history like this!)

[adkii]

Thanks so much for the help!