Year End Invertebrate Quiz: Once Upon A Milkweed

Late last July, I headed to Prospect Park on an exceedingly hot and humid Sunday morning in hopes of "stocking up" on invertebrate pictures so I would have enough to last through the winter. My original intent was to head for the Lullwater to photograph some damselflies. On the way over, however, I was distracted by a large black swallowtail was hanging out in a large, fenced-in patch of milkweed.

A small pond lay just beyond the milkweed, although any view of it from the path was totally obscured by vegetation - probably the reason it was fenced. Throwing caution to the wind, I climbed over the fence and chased the elusive swallotail around for twenty sweat drenched minutes before finally giving up and heading home. In the meantime, I managed to get several out of focus pictures of some of the many species that rely on milkweed as a food source.

Here's my challenge see if you can name the invertebrates pictured below. The pictures aren't  great, but they're good enough to make an id.

Photo A is obviously the milkweed plant itself (Asclepias syriacea). Photos B and C are the same critter, and if you can't identify it, you should be ashamed. It's only the most famous insect associated with the milkweed and its propensity to impart bad taste to animals that dine on its milky sap.

Photos D - F are trickier, but here's a hint:  all of them are insects, and they are all different orders.

BONUS CRITTER: At first I thought the photo to the right was too blurry to share, but, while it might reveal my failings as a photographer, it's clear enough to be readily identified. This particular invertebrate does belong to the same order as one of the above crawlers. UPDATE: I should have made clear that I'm looking for a species level identification. I'll post the answers next week.

Visit the Friday Ark for your weekly critter blogging fix.

Click here to scroll through my entire invertebrate portfolio. What a long, strange, spineless trip it's been.

Comments

[dope]

okay, errrrm, a monarch butterfly, a ...hhhhornet? or yellowjacket waspy sting-y thingy. a soldier beetle. a plant bug, and an evil looking weevil. close?

Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is correct -DING DING DING.

sting-y thing is technically correct, but a species level id is what I was looking for, I should have made that clear. I'll give you partial credit for getting the right order.

"plant bug" is also technically correct. With a little work (i.e. fill in the name of the plant) you can get full credit for that one and have a species level identification to boot.

"soldier beetle" is incorrect - BUZZZZZZZ. Try again.

"evil looking weevil" sounds like a stunt cyclist, but is also technically correct. Partial credit. A species id will get full credit.

Nice work.

[sahalie]

okay, errrrm, a monarch butterfly, a ...hhhhornet? or yellowjacket waspy sting-y thingy. a soldier beetle. a plant bug, and an evil looking weevil. close?