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Species Labidomera clivicollis - Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle
Classification Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Coleoptera (Beetles)
Suborder Polyphaga (Water, Rove, Scarab, Longhorn, Leaf and Snout Beetles)
Superfamily Chrysomeloidea (Long-horned and Leaf Beetles)
Family Chrysomelidae (Leaf Beetles)
Subfamily Chrysomelinae
Tribe Chrysomelini
Subtribe Doryphorina
Genus Labidomera
Species clivicollis (Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle)
Other Common Names Milkweed Leaf Beetle Synonyms and other taxonomic changes Author: Kirby 1837 Numbers There are four species of Labidomera, but only L. clivicollis occurs north of Mexico. The other species occur in Mexico and Central America. (1)Identification  Unit tray of Labidomera clivicollis (Kirby) curated in the TAMUIC.
Adult: elytra orange/red/yellow patterned with black blotches or spots; found on milkweed.
Larva: orange with well-developed legs. Range Occurs in every state east of the Rocky Mountains, and into northern Mexico. (1) Also present in southeastern Canada. Habitat Meadows, roadsides, with milkweed, especially wetlands with Swamp Milkweed ( Asclepias incarnata). Season Late spring, summer to fall. Some adults overwinter and are presumably the ones observed in spring. June-July, September (Minnesota). Adults less common or absent in mid-summer. In Durham, North Carolina, adults observed active on milkweed starting in late May. (pers. observation, P. Coin) Food Foliage, flowers, of milkweed, especially Swamp Milkweed ( Asclepias incarnata), but also found on Common Milkweed ( Asclepias syriaca). Also on swallow-wort ( Cynanchum) and twinevine ( Funastrum = Sarcostemma). (2)Life Cycle Often overwinter as adults among leaves of such plants as mullein ( Verbascum). Adults mate on or around milkweed. Eggs are cemented to the underside of leaves. Larvae feed on leaves, and drop to ground to pupate. (3)
Remarks Part of the orange and black milkweed mimicry complex, which includes Monarch Butterfly, Red Milkweed Beetle, milkweed bugs, and at least one assassin bug.
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. (4)See Also Leptinotarsa lineolata (Stål),
Det. E. G. Riley, 2010,
(Chrysomelidae: Chrysomelinae, Chrysomelini) Print References Milne, p. 609, plate 151 (3)
Rea, p. 54, pictures adult and larva (5)
Dillon, p. 685, plate LXIX #7 (6)
Papp, p. 241, fig. 794 (7)
Arnett, p. 326, fig. 764 (8)
Brimley, p. 225--lists collection dates for North Carolina as May, June (9)
Balsbaugh, p. 92, reports from Alabama with collection dates in July (10)Internet References Insects of Cedar Creek: photos, phenology table (for family)
Works Cited | 2. | Host Plants of Leaf Beetle Species Occuring in the United States and Canada
By Shawn Clark, Douglas LeDoux, Terry Seeno, Edward Riley, Arthur Gilbert, and James Sullivan. 2004. | |
| 8. | How to Know the Beetles
By Ross H. Arnett, N. M. Downie, H. E. Jaques | |
| 10. | The leaf beetles of Alabama
By Edward Balsbaugh and Kirby Hays | |
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