Bug FAQSwamp Milkweed Leaf Beetle
Labidomera clivicollis · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Chrysomelidae
Also called: Milkweed Leaf Beetle, Swamp Milkweed Beetle
Source: Wikipedia
The swamp milkweed leaf beetle is a small, round beetle about 8 to 11 mm long with a black head and bright orange-yellow wing covers marked with black spots. It lives in eastern North America and feeds on toxic milkweed and other dogbane family plants. Females lay orange, jelly-bean-like eggs on host plants; larvae later drop to the soil to pupate, and adults seek shelter for the winter.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The beetle has a black head and pronotum and orange-yellow elytra with variable black mottling. It looks like a large ladybird but is not a true ladybird.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Adults are round-bodied and measure 8 to 11 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It feeds on plants that are toxic to most herbivores. Host plants include swamp milkweed, common milkweed, swallow-wort and twinevine, all in the dogbane family.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Females lay small clusters of orange, jelly-bean-like eggs on the host plant. Mature larvae leave the plant and go into the soil to pupate.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
In autumn adults feed and then find shelter to overwinter.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
It is native to eastern North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It resembles a large ladybird beetle, though it belongs to a different infraorder.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 40 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Ohio, Texas, Virginia, Illinois, North Carolina, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
Can they damage my garden?
Yes, they feed on milkweed and related plants, which can harm those garden species.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Chrysomelidae)
Spotted Cucumber BeetleDiabrotica undecimpunctataDamages trees, gardens or crops
Bean WeevilAcanthoscelides obtectusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Cowpea WeevilCallosobruchus maculatusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Alder Leaf BeetleAgelastica alniDamages trees, gardens or crops
Dogbane Leaf BeetleChrysochus auratus
Colorado Potato BeetleLeptinotarsa decemlineataSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milkweed_leaf_beetle
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.