Here's a new bug for ya :) I kept seeing these bright red bugs this summer, but I had no idea what they were called. Finally, I came across a reference to a red milkweed bug in something I was reading. I remembered seeing these little guys on the milkweed at my in-laws house and figured I had my I.D. After running a quick Google search, my guess was confirmed. So, here we have a few photos of the Milkweed Bugs from my garden. They're on milkweed ;)

Milkweed Bugs have an incomplete metamorphosis - the young look like miniature adults (with some color variations and unformed wings). When I found this rather large bug "family" on our milkweed plants in the front yard this afternoon, I called the girls to come see "the babies" that had come to our garden. There were about fifty young bugs of different sizes/ages and only about 5 adults.

Here are some interesting facts I found in my internet research:

• Milkweed Bugs molt 5 times before reaching adulthood
• On the underside of the abdomen, the female has one black strip and two black dots. The male has two thick black strips
• Eggs hatch in one week
• Nymphs reach maturity in about one month
• They will eat shelled sunflower seeds in captivity
• The bugs taste bad to predators because their bodies concentrate the toxicity of their host plant - milkweed. Interestingly, the same is true of monarch butterflies which also eat milkweed. Both insects are reddish orange and black - often natural warning signs of a nasty taste.
• The bugs are harmless and are easily kept in captivity (aka - my kitchen)
• Their bodies are fairly soft and should not be pinched or handled roughly.

I found this FANTASTIC website tonight! It is dedicated to providing teachers with resources for using live insects in elementary classrooms. The little blurb at the top of the page says, "Using Live Insects in Elementary Classrooms for Early Lessons in Life". The lessons for life part gets a little out there in places, but the bug info is good! :) We might just be making a Bug Bungalow with our Milkweeds Bugs! :)

Questions asked of the children:

1) Can you tell which bugs are the adults and which are the babies?

2) How are the adults and babies alike?

3) Tell how the adults and babies are different.

4) Can you see a heart shape anywhere on the adults? What might be a good name for this bug besides Milkweed Bug? (they decided on Love Bug because of the black heart on the upper back of the mature adults).