It is starting to get to that hot and dry period, where the only good thing in the garden seems to be that some of my plants have not yet wilted.
But I took another walk in my back area, and found this swarm of bugs on my pearl milkweed vine. I used Seek to identify them, and it says Large Milkweed bug. Well, huh. I guess that makes sense, lol.
A quick google search shows that they are not typically harmful to plants as they typically feed only on the seeds. Yep, looking at the photo above, I’ll agree with that!
From https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/large-milkweed-bug
The large milkweed bug, with its bold black-and-orange pattern, is one of the most beautiful of the true bugs. It is one of several species in its genus, with all having similar coloration but different patterns. In this species, each forewing has, from front to back, an orange, front-pointing triangle, a wide black band, and an orange backward-pointing triangle; then, the outer, membranous portion of the forewing is black. Also note that the pronotum (the shield-like plate, like shoulders, between the head and wings) has a black, forward-pointing triangle bordered on either side by orange.
A Although in laboratories, large milkweed bugs have been able to survive on the seeds of some other types of plants, including sunflower and watermelon, these are not the preferred foods in the wild, and these insects are not a problem for human crops.
If you are growing milkweeds on purpose, you will probably find large milkweed bugs more of a nuisance (if even that) than a pest. Unless you have an exceptionally large number of these bugs, they generally do not damage milkweed plants very much. Since many people are growing milkweeds to serve as native insect food plants — for monarchs, milkweed tussock moths, and so on — keep in mind that these colorful native bugs are helped by your efforts, too.
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