About the Small Milkweed Bug
Lygaeus kalmii, known as the small milkweed bug or common milkweed bug, is a species of seed bug in the family Lygaeidae. It is found in Central and North America. Lygaeus kalmii was first formally named in 1874 by Swedish entomologist Carl Stål in his Enumeratio Hemipterorum.
Range includes Arizona (where it is very common in almost every sandy-grassy patch) and California, though California milkweed bugs are somewhat rare. The western subspecies has white spots and are seen with milkweed in bushy dry areas, but only for feeding, and in wet areas to survive.
Young nymphs of Lygaeus kalmii are initially fully red, developing black diagonal markings on the pronotum. Adults are orange to red and gray/black, reaching 10 to 12 mm (0.39 to 0.47 in) in length. The head is black with a red spot in the center. The forewings are patterned with a black heart inside of an orange-red X which does not meet in the middle.
The membranous portion of the forewings in the eastern subspecies Lygaeus... Wikipedia →