24 NEBRASKAland • APRIL 2016
Watch Your
Step
Photos and story by Alex Wiles
A red milkweed beetle (Tetraopes tetrophthalmus) peers out
over the edge of a leaf. By ingesting milkweed, these beetles
become distasteful and potentially toxic to predators, a
defense mechanism also employed by monarch butterflies.
T
here's a whole world at your
feet, with color and complexity
unmatched at our own scale.
This world is visible to you, if you look
closely, and provides a spectacle that
will continue to impress the deeper
one delves. Sadly, this world is often
overlooked by those who either do
not know of its existence or are fixated
on things much larger and higher up.
When I moved to Nebraska several
years ago I fell into this same trap,
dwelling on the larger elements of
nature and ignoring the goldmine
of biodiversity that lives on a much
smaller scale.
