Pixel Wild
Small Milkweed Bug
Small Milkweed Bug
Lygaeus kalmii
Insecta
COMMON

Stats

Lifespan
A few months
Size
Small
Diet
Omnivore
Activity
Diurnal
Social
Solitary
Biome
Temperate grassland
Range
North America
Movement
Flight
Breeding
Egg-laying
Defense
Warning Colors
Status
Common

About

This seed bug lives on milkweed plants throughout North and Central America. It stores toxic heart poisons from its diet to make itself taste bitter to predators.

Life cycle

  1. 1.
    egg
    A small egg is laid on or near the larval food source and hatches within days or weeks.
  2. 2.
    juvenile
    An immature insect feeds and molts, growing through successive instars.
  3. 3.
    subadult
    A near-adult insect has wing buds or near-mature form, one molt away from full size.
  4. 4.
    adult
    Fully grown, with full wings and adult coloration.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Arthropoda
Class
Insecta
Order
Hemiptera
Family
Lygaeidae
Genus
Lygaeus
Species
Lygaeus kalmii