#4164 · 🦗 bugs, crickets & other insects

Large Milkweed Bug

Oncopeltus fasciatus

🦗 Bugs, crickets & other insects 📍 outside Europe

9 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

Oncopeltus fasciatus , known as the large milkweed bug , is a medium-sized hemipteran (true bug) of the family Lygaeidae. It is distributed throughout North America. It ranges from Central America through Mexico and the Caribbean to southern areas in Canada. Costa Rica represents this insects southern limit. It inhabits disturbed areas, roadsides and open pastures. Due to this widespread geographic distribution this insect exhibits varying life history trade-offs depending on the population location.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 96,566iNaturalist observations

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
96,566 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named by William Sweetland Dallas in 1852 (174 years ago).