This weevil species, about 1/4 of an inch in size, is a milkweed specialist. The female excavates a series of nest chambers in the stem of milkweeds and deposits an egg in each chamber. Here, you can see the latex from the common milkweed stem is foaming and forming around the egg chambers. It will eventually harden and turn black, protecting the eggs and then the larvae who feed on the pith tissue. Because this behaviour can damage the milkweed, people raising milkweeds for monarch butterflies are not fans of these little creatures, but I find them endearing and fun to watch. For example, when you disturb one they immediately play dead and often will drop from the plant, completely unmoving. I would like to think that there are enough milkweeds for monarchs and the other critters who use the plants too.