Milkweed bugs
I went back this week to the location where I found the blue lobelia, and found it flowering still. My next stop was going to be a nearby field with hundreds of common milkweed pods, when I noticed another milkweed species, Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata, covered with milkweed bugs:
These are nymphs of Large Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus). Every pod on this milkweed plant had anywhere from two to 15 nymphs, quite a sight, so much so that I didn’t make it to the common milkweed field. This location is one I go to for Bronze Copper, a beautiful and somewhat rare butterfly (in my area at least), but I haven’t seen one yet this year.
Nature Diary 
A well-done portrait of these colorful nymphs and the accompanying seeds with silk attached.
Thanks, Steve. It was a nice find.
How fascinating to see so many of these notes on the milkweed. All entirely new phenomenon to me. I hope you see the butterfly you are seeking soon!
I’ve seen groups of these milkweed bug nymphs in photographs, but this was my first encounter. I have a few more weeks to find Bronze Copper.
Please forgive the typos. I was distracted and didn’t realize… Notes should be nymphs, and All should be An.
I’m sure there’s a way to edit my own comments on others posts, but I couldn’t remember how.
Never mind the typos! I don’t know how to edit comments on other’s blogs, I think permissions prevent it.
Wow – incredible pic!!
Thanks MB, it was exciting to find so many of the bug nymphs.
What a neat sight. I rarely see groups of these, but just once I saw a collection in every size — multi-generational living, milkweed bug style. The colors are so pleasing. It’s interesting how many creatures roaming these flowers mimic the colors of the monarchs.
There are a number of red or orange colored insects that feed on milkweed, all unpalatable to predators. Small and large milkweed bugs, two milkweed beetles, and the Monarch, all with what’s called aposematic coloration. Dogbane beetle is another, dogbane has the same compound as milkweed, I believe, a latex sap with a glycoside toxin. Dogbane beetle is multicolored unlike the others.