I noticed on Friday that quite a few milkweed plants are now in bloom at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Hopefully they will attract some Monarch butterflies. In the meantime, I was happy to see this Red Milkweed Beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus) with its cool “longhorn” antennae.
Over ten years ago, I encountered these strange-looking insects for the first time and was utterly fascinated by their appearance. That fascination has not diminished over time. Milkweed plants are amazing hosts to a wonderful variety of insects and it is always fun to examine them closely.
I was a pretty good distance away from this beetle, so I was not able to get a close-up shot of it, so settled for a shot that included a bit of the milkweed. I really like the resulting image, a reminder to myself that the primary subject does not necessarily have to fill the frame for a photo to be effective.
If you want a better view of a Red Milkweed Beetle, check out my June 2013 posting entitled “Red Milkweed Beetle—he’s back.”
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
That is a nice photo, Mike.
This is indeed a wonderful example of the notion that the primary subject does not need to fill the frame, Mike. A very effective composition here!
Very nice colorful image Mike! The colorful Red Milkweed Beetle draws your eye across the image!
Who knew you could compose leading lines with a leaf 😁😁. Nice.
This is an interesting one. So many of the insects that roam the milkweeds have developed the same color scheme as the Monarchs, no doubt as a defensive measure. The milkweed bug is the one I see most often.
I too tend to see a lot of milkweed bugs, though I have not seen any yet this year. It is cool for me to see them in all kinds of stages of development.
I like how the flowers seem to be studying the beetle.