![\"lzrd-beetle-languria11-2rz\"](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2016\/12\/lzrd-beetle-languria11-2rz.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The BugLady found it on an Indian Plantain out in the prairie in early summer. Like the squirrels of her acquaintance, this spiffy half-inch lizard beetle was an expert at keeping the plant stem between itself and the BugLady\u2019s camera.<\/p>\n
False Milkweed Bug<\/h3>\n
The BugLady is always annoyed by those hokey TV ads where one (horrified) idiot says \u201cI never thought you\u2019d switch from \u2018Whoopsies\u2019!\u201d and the other (smug) idiot smirks and says, \u201cThis is New, Improved \u2018Whoopsies.\u2019\u201d At first glance, these were (yawn) just a few more Small Milkweed Bugs (SMB, Lygaeus kalmii<\/em> of previous BOTW fame). Except for the fact that they were sitting on yellow prairie composites (smooth ox-eyes) instead of milkweed, and the Rorschach pattern on the back looked different. The SMB has a black heart, not a \u201cY\u201d on its back.<\/p>\n [metaslider id=5091]<\/p>\n Turns out that this is the False Milkweed Bug (Lygaeus turcicus<\/em>), and it turns out that if you\u2019re confused, the experts have been, too. Look at a collection of SMB pictures, and you\u2019ll find the FMB mixed in, and vice versa. Because it\u2019s been overlooked, it\u2019s been under-studied. Some literature from the 1800\u2019s reports that both species feed and breed on milkweed (the FMB will eat milkweed in a pinch, but it won\u2019t thrive); other articles imply they are the same species (a researcher named James Slater was unable to convince the two species to interbreed). According to Slater, the moral of the story is “the importance of, and the need for, enthusiastic amateurs in American entomological study” (and the associated danger of trusting the literature more than you trust your eyes). FMBs are renowned in genetic studies for the tricky arrangement of their unequal-sized sex chromosomes. They are in the Seed Bug family Lygaeidae. They have been recorded on Indian plantain, too.<\/p>\n Both the species name funebris<\/em> and the common name \u201csable\u201d refer to its dark coloring. These little (wingspread about \u00be\u201d) guys\/gals must be champions at avoiding predators, because they sure lead the BugLady and her camera a merry chase around the wild geranium patch each spring. They\u2019re not strong flyers, so when they\u2019re alarmed, the WSSMs simply duck under flowers and leaves. Adults seem to nectar on a variety of sun-loving, late spring\/early summer flowers, but their caterpillars are fond of goldenrods, where they live on the under-surface of the basal leaves.<\/p>\n [metaslider id=5093]<\/p>\n WSSMs are in the snout moth family Crambidae but are not as obviously \u201csnouted\u201d as some of the Crambiids the BugLady has seen on her porch this year. They are diurnal (day-flyers), and one sub-species or another is found in northern climes around the globe. Anania funebris glomeralis<\/em> is the North American subspecies, and many people (but not the BugLady) call them by their scientific name, Anania<\/em>.<\/p>\n As veteran BugFans will recall, there are a multitude of bugs out there that are pretty cute but that simply don\u2019t have much information attached to them. In fact, there are around 100,000 species of insects in North America, and a lot of them don\u2019t even have a common name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[30,79,154],"class_list":["post-5083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bug-of-the-week","tag-beetles","tag-moths","tag-true-bugs"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"mlkweed-bug-fls11-2brz\"](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2016\/12\/mlkweed-bug-fls11-2brz.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhite-Spotted Sable Moth (Anania funebris<\/em>)<\/h3>\n
\nThe BugLady<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"