Tag: rush milkweed (Page 2 of 2)

Bug of the Week: Name That Milkweed Insect

May 3, 2017 / Roberta / 2 Comments

The rush milkweed (also called desert milkweed) plants are in bloom.

Turns out the buds, flowers, and seed pods are a bounty of food for insects.

If you have been following Bug of the Week, you can probably recognize some of the seven insects that I found on the rush milkweed today.

What are theÂ yellow-orange insects?

2. How about this red and black one?

3. What is this insect? What do you think it’s waiting for?

4. Here’s another waiting insect. What is it?

5. This one is tricky. What do you think it is?

6. This is another tough one. We’ve already looked at the yellow orange insects. So, what is the pale green oval at the end of the hairlike stalk?

7. Finally, who is this striped cutie?

Milkweeds are home to some interesting insects. Do you have any milkweeds growing nearby?

Edit:Â The answers are now posted.

Bug of the Week: A Different Lady Beetle Larva

July 1, 2015 / Roberta / 0 Comments

This week let’s take another look at the diverse community of insects found on the rush or desert milkweed.

(Photograph by Lynne S., used with permission)

What do you see here? Probably the first things you notice are the bright orange-yellow aphids. Those are oleander aphids.

(Photograph by Lynne S., used with permission)

But, what is the insect with the bright white fluffy look?

The insect that looks like a tiny white carpet is actually a lady beetle larva. Instead of the bright red-and-black lady beetles we usually think of, this larva will turn into a small dark brown or black beetle.

These nondescript beetles belong to a group called dusky lady beetles (Tribe Scymnini). The adults are round in shape, like other lady beetles, and feed on aphids, scales and mealybugs, too. The main difference is that the larvae produce a white waxy coating, which is thought to help protect them from predators.

Have you ever spot an adult dusky lady beetle or a larva? Where did you find it?

Seed of the Week: Rush Milkweed

July 10, 2012 / Roberta / 3 Comments

As Tommy and Karen guessed last week, our mystery seeds from last week were from a milkweed. In particular, they are from the rush or leafless milkweed, Asclepias subulata.

Milkweeds come in a number of sizes and shapes. You may be familiar with the broad-leaved milkweed that grows in fields and on roadsides throughout North America:Â Asclepias syriaca, the common milkweed.

Common Milkweed

The rush or leafless milkweed that grows here in the Southwest lacks the large leaves.

Much of the year it looks like a clump of grey-green sticks, as shown in the left foreground of this photograph.

The flower structure, pods and seeds of the rush milkweed are similar to its relatives.

The rush milkweeds’ flowers are yellow, however, rather than pink.

As with all milkweeds, the flowers consist of a crown or corona, with five nectar cups. Many different insects visit the plant for the nectar in these cups, including: