Subject: Black & Orange Banded w/Red Head
Geographic location of the bug: Tulsa, Ok
Date: 09/26/2017
Time: 10:34 AM EDT
I’ve seen photos of the Banded Net-Wing Beetle, but all of those have a black head. This bug has a red head. Is it different or maybe a different gender?
How you want your letter signed: Gloria Famer
Dear Gloria,
While your critter resembles a Banded Net-Winged Beetle, it is a different species. As a matter of fact, it is not even a beetle. This is a Large Milkweed Bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus, a species almost always found on milkweed. Since Large Milkweed Bugs have mouths designed to pierce and suck, not to chew, the eaten leaf can be attributed to something else.
Oncopeltus fasciatus is the large milkweed bug, not the netting beetle
Oops. thanks for the correction. Guess at some point, we were on auto-pilot and stopped reading what we were writing.