Common-milkweed

Guides

Labidomera clivicollis
Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle, Milkweed Leaf Beetle
Labidomera clivicollis is a large leaf beetle specialized on milkweeds (Asclepias spp.). Adults and larvae feed on milkweed foliage, sequestering cardiac glycosides for chemical defense. The species exhibits aposematic orange and black coloration as part of a Müllerian mimicry complex with monarch butterflies and other milkweed feeders. Reproduction is photoperiodically controlled, with short day lengths inducing adult diapause. Larvae suffer high predation mortality, particularly from ground-dispersing predators.
leaf-beetle milkweed aposematic-coloration Müllerian-mimicry chemical-defense cardenolide-sequestration photoperiodism sexually-transmitted-parasite cannibalism predation-mortality swamp-milkweed common-milkweed Chrysomelidae herbivore diapause Kirby-1837