Adults are usually about 8–15 mm long.
Fine-art photographic collection
Tetraopes tetrophthalmus
A four-eyed milkweed beetle that cuts a plant’s veins before feeding to disarm its pressurised latex defence.
About this species
Red Milkweed Beetle
Tetraopes tetrophthalmus(Forster, 1771)
Information reviewed15 July 2026
Tetraopes tetrophthalmus is a red-and-black longhorn beetle closely associated with milkweeds. Adults feed above ground on leaves and flowers, while larvae develop below ground on milkweed roots.
Taxonomy
Animalia · Arthropoda · Insecta · Coleoptera · Cerambycidae · Tetraopes
Accepted taxon. · checked 2026-07-15
eastern and central North AmericaBroad range and selected reference localities — not a complete occurrence map.
eastern and central North America
Fields, prairies, roadsides and gardens containing milkweed.
Adults are diurnal and conspicuous on milkweed in summer.
Milkweed foliage, flowers and roots.
Solitary.
What makes this species remarkable?
Each antenna passes directly through a compound eye and divides it into upper and lower lobes, creating the four-eyed appearance named by both genus and species.
Before biting a leaf, the beetle often severs or notches major veins so the flow of sticky toxic latex falls before feeding begins.
Larvae feed hidden on milkweed roots while warning-coloured adults live above ground, extending the relationship with one chemically defended plant through both life stages.