Blue Milkweed Beetles in Westridge-Canyonback Wilderness Park

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Subject:  Blue Milkweed Beetles
Geographic location of the bug: Westridge-Canyonback Wilderness Park, California
Date: 06/04/2021
Time: 9:25 AM PDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Dear Readers,
Daniel was out hiking near the Getty Museam in a Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy park when he pointed out the Narrow-Leaf Milkweed that was just beginning to bloom to his hiking partners Naeemah and Sharon.  Some plants had numerous Blue Milkweed Beetles feeding on the leaves.  According to BugGuide:  “Larvae are obligate root feeders, and adults eat the leaves of larval host plants. Females are highly polyandrous, males engage in extended periods of post-copulatory mate guarding.”

Blue Milkweed Beetle

Milkweed is a very popular plant with many pollinating insects including butterflies, bees and wasps. so many years ago we created a Milkweed Meadow tag for the complex ecosystem that is associated with milkweed.

Blue Milkweed Beetle and Honey Bee

Update:  June 19, 2021  Mating Blue Milkweed Beetles
This weekend while hiking at the same location with Sharon and Melanie, Daniel spotted a solitary pair of mating Blue Milkweed Beetles.  He managed to get one image before the presumably male Blue Milkweed Beetle dropped to the ground.  Daniel felt somewhat guilty that his voyeurism led to coitus interruptus.

Mating Blue Milkweed Beetles

 

3 thoughts on “Blue Milkweed Beetles in Westridge-Canyonback Wilderness Park”

  1. Washington Co. Utah here. Speaking of milkweed, our local narrow leaf variety is blooming. If you want to see a Tarantula Hawk Wasp, that is the place to go. I was surprised to notice, for the first time, a mimic.
    It looked a lot like some kind of Xylocopa or carpenter bee creature. They were doing their best to look like the wasps, but it was obvious they were something else.
    We are currently in a heat emergency, but as soon as i can i hope to observe those creatures again.

    Reply

  2. Washington Co. Utah here. Speaking of milkweed, our local narrow leaf variety is blooming. If you want to see a Tarantula Hawk Wasp, that is the place to go. I was surprised to notice, for the first time, a mimic.
    It looked a lot like some kind of Xylocopa or carpenter bee creature. They were doing their best to look like the wasps, but it was obvious they were something else.
    We are currently in a heat emergency, but as soon as i can i hope to observe those creatures again.

    Reply

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