Country: USA
State/District: VA
County: Fairfax
Date: 17 June 2001

Photographer: E. M. Barrows

Identifier: E. M. Barrows
Collector: not applicable
Location:
Keywords: A brown fruit DMWP DMWPp FEfo Garden-1 green fruit information sheet pink flower purple flower
Additional Information:

Some Arthropod Visitors of Asclepias incarnata, Swamp Milkweed (Apocynaceae)

(E. M. Barrows, 14 August 2008)

Asclepias spp. (Milkweeds), have scores of arthropod visitors including nectar thieves, parasites, pollinators, predators, and scavengers. Hummingbirds also consume nectar from Asclepias flowers and possibly pollinate them. In Asclepias pollination, a pollinator deposits a pollinium into a longitudinal stigmatic groove. This is an infrequent phenomenon; therefore, inflorescences (umbels) usually develop only a few, or no, fruits (follicles).

Here are some of the floral visitors of Asclepias incarnata, Swamp Milkweed.

Please, click on images to enlarge them.












Please, click on images to enlarge them.



Figure 1.   Aphis nerii (Oleander Aphid, alien species), Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 2.   Apis mellifera (Honey Bee, alien species, right, possibly a pollinator), calliphorid fly (top, possibly a nectar thief) Augochoropsis bee (left, possibly a nectar thief), Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008. Apis mellifera transports Asclepias incarnata pollinia and might pollinate this species.

Figure 3.   Augochloropsis bee, possibly a nectar thief, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 4.   Augochloropsis bee, possibly a nectar thief, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 5.   Bombus pennsylvanicus (American Bumble Bee) with about 15 pollinia attached to his legs and struggling to pull free from a Swamp Milkweed flower which holds his leg with the sticky part of its pollinarium, Juneau County, Wisconsin, July 2006. This species might pollinate Asclepias incarnata.



Figure 6.   Bombus vagans, possibly a nectar thief, and Aphis nerii, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 7.   Metallic green chalcidoid wasp, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 8.   Danaus plexippus (Monarch) egg, about in the center of the photograph, possibly a nectar thief, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 9.   Adult Danaus plexippus, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 10.   Adult Danaus plexippus, Juneau County, Wisconsin, July 2006.



Figure 11.   A fly, possibly a nectar thief, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 12.   A fly, possibly a nectar thief, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 13.   A fly, possibly a nectar thief, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 14.   Pompeius verna (Little Glassywing, a skipper butterfly, possibly a nectar thief), Fairfax County, Virginia, August 2002.

Figure 15.   Papilio troilus (Spicebush Swallowtail, a butterfly, possibly a nectar thief), Fairfax County, Virginia, August 2002.



Figure 16.   Phyciodes tharos (Pearl Crescent, a butterfly, possibly a nectar thief), Fairfax County, Virginia, August 2002.

Figure 17.   Polistes dominulus (paper wasp, alien species from Europe and China, possibly a nectar thief), Juneau County, Wisconsin, July 2006.

Figure 18.   Polites coras (Peck’s Skipper, a butterfly possibly a nectar thief), Jefferson County, West Virginia, July 2004.

Figure 19.   Pterourus glaucus (Tiger Swallowtail, a butterfly possibly a nectar thief), Fairfax County, Virginia, August 2002.

Figure 20.   Labidomera clivicollis (Milkweed Leaf Beetle), Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008. Adults consume Asclepias leaves.



Figure 21.   Lygus mirid bug, possibly a nectar thief, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 22.   Lygus mirid bug, possibly a nectar thief, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 23.   Moth, possibly an arctiid, possibly a nectar thief, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

Figure 24.   Moth, possibly a noctuid, possibly a nectar thief, Clarke County, Virginia, August 2008.

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