Giant Lady Beetle?
August 5, 2009
Is there such a thing as a Giant Lady Beetle? I found this beetle this morning on a milkweed plant (a typical lady beetle would be the size of the flower buds around this creature). The coloring didn’t seem right for a hercules or harlequin beetle.
Tim Doyle
Memphis, TN
Hi Tim,
Though it looks like a Ladybird Beetle, this is actually a Swamp Milkweed Beetle, Labidomera clivicollis. They feed on the flowers and leaves of milkweed, and BugGuide has this interesting bit of information posted: “Both larvae and adults of this species cut several side-veins of a milkweed leaf prior to feeding, to reduce the sticky latex that would otherwise be produced at their feeding sites.“
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination
Maybe it’s late but this is a Euphoria Basalis not ladybug or ladybird, it’s a Meliponi or stingless honey bee, they feed on the pollen
Excuse me I am wrong you were right ?