Milkweeds have become a popular garden plant in the last several years. They are most commonly planted to help support monarch butterflies because milkweeds are the sole food source for monarch caterpillars. If you’ve ever gone out to check your milkweed plants for monarch caterpillars, you may have been surprised to find other insects living and feeding on your milkweed plants. After all, milkweeds are toxic to other animals. However, some insects have evolved to be able to feed on milkweed and, like monarch caterpillars, have become milkweed specialists.

 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cLvl96PpqOg

Photos

Red milkweed beetle

• "Red Milkweed Beetle - Tetraopes tetropht" (CC BY 2.0) by Judy Gallagher
• Red milkweed beetle eyes - By Bruce Marlin, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1514284 

Swamp milkweed leaf beetle

• Adult – Thomas Irvine (CC BY 4.0), iNaturalist
• Larva – dbugs, Public Domain, iNaturalist

Milkweed bugs – Ken Johnson, University of Illinois Extension

Milkweed tussock moth

• Newly hatched caterpillars and damage - Erin Lalime (CC BY 4.0), iNaturalist
• Older caterpillar - "255/366 Milkweed Tussock Moth - Euchaete" (CC BY 2.0) by Judy Gallagher
• Adult moth - Dan MacNeal (CC BY 4.0), iNaturalist

Oleander aphids - Ken Johnson, University of Illinois Extension

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