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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Beetles (Coleoptera) » Polyphaga » Series Cucujiformia » Longhorn and Leaf Beetles (Chrysomeloidea) » Leaf Beetles (Chrysomelidae) » Chrysomelinae » Chrysomelini » Doryphorina » Labidomera » Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle (Labidomera clivicollis)
Photo#6165
Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle (3 stages) - Labidomera clivicollis
Copyright © 2004 Cotinis

Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle (3 stages) - Labidomera clivicollis
Parkwood, Durham County, North Carolina, USA
August 24, 2004
Size: circa 4-10 mm
There were several of these on my cultivated Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata. It was difficult to photograph them on the swaying stems, and they drop if disturbed, so I placed a few on a leaf on the ground for a photo session. (They vomit an orange fluid if disturbed as well.) The largest individual was about as big as an adult, perhaps 9-11 mm in length.
Image updated 7/25/22.
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Contributed by Cotinis on 25 August, 2004 - 7:42pm
Last updated 25 July, 2022 - 3:02pm

Swamp milkweed beetle
Thanks for helping me identify the little guys who have been munching on my eggplant leaves. They range from about 1/8" to about 3/8". The larger ones are light gray --- smaller are darker. Larvae?
Westmoreland County, PA
… Tesherscat, 31 August, 2006 - 3:57pm login or register to post comments

 
Since they are host-specific
yours won't be milkweed beetles, but they could be Colorado potato beetele or false potato beetle larvae (potatoes and eggplants are closely related). False potato beetle larvae have a single row of spots like the milkweed beetles (info page here):



Colorado Potato beetle larvae have two rows of spots (info page here):

… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 31 August, 2006 - 6:12pm login or register to post comments

Very cool picture
reminds me of the evolutionary graphic with the caveman becoming modern man. Too bad they're not well-trained enough to be all pointing the same way...
… Hannah Nendick-Mason, 25 August, 2004 - 8:44pm login or register to post comments

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