Oncopeltus fasciatus is the Large Milkweed Bug or one of them (yes there is a Small Milkweed Bug). Certainly this is a common one. I don't think I've ever seen them on anything other than a milkweed plant. These are attempting to create more milkweed bugs.

And they certainly enjoy a fat milkweed pod. Which is sort of remarkable because I don't believe they are very tasty. To each his own. You can barely see the pod beneath this milling crowd.

Because of the food choice, this is likely a true bug and not another small beetle. I have no idea what its name is. I just like its tenacity in the face of a fine snack.

The Wheel Bug is a very nasty true bug predator, Arilus cristatus. It is a member of the Reduviidae family. This one has taken a bumblebee in some Russian Sage. The sage was buzzing with bumbles and these Wheels were just helping themselves. There were several. They have a nasty looking sword of a suckertool which can give a really painful bite. It injects a neurotoxin into its victim (or into us). This relaxes the poor bumble and allows easy drainage without struggle.

Wheel with a Cucumber beetle. I think they will eat anything. I have seen shots with them draining blister beetles, surely the most noxious food item out there.
 

The sword, behold. And that purple eye. These things can be very attentive. And this big guy was already this size in June 2020. Atop one of my giant Thistle towers.  
 
Wheel reaching its final size and shape it appears. Apparently only took a few hours to darken up after emerging in this yellow and orange form. I have never seen the emergnce myself. 

The striking juveniles look like another bug. The smallest hatchlings look like deformed red and black ants. This guy was up to the midling size. Still a nasty piercing tool predator at this size. Note the wheel has not popped up yet.
This I think is also the wheel nymph, perhaps a few molts past the above. In 2020, on my Fig tree.   
These arose from the eggs you can see off center to the right and I am thinking they are Wheel Bug hatchlings. Possibly a different large true bug but I did not follow their progress.   

This ominously colorful assassin was all over this Black-eyed Susan. When I first spotted it a large Scolid wasp had just landed to nectar and this guy was wide-armed and stalking up to it. Something in the little bugbrain told it not to go for the full monty on the wasp however and he let it go. I believe this is pretty close to Apiomerus, one of the bee hunting assassins.

After the wasp left he was very wary to my lens and basically tracked my every movement. Nice predator.

 

I called it the Stretch Bug when I saw it. It is Zelus luridus, the most common in the genus in the east. Note the two spines on the back of the thorax. And the 'apple green' color. Also an Assassin in the Reduvids.    
 
And different individual, same spring of 2020. Spines more visible here.  

This is, of course, a Stinkbug. Though I presume they don't all stink. Many are predatory. Weird that I have no shots of any other species. I will fix that. This is Proxys punctulatus, the Black Stink Bug. Apparently a crop pest on soybeans and cotton and citrus as well as predaceous. Love the spotted shanks.   
Also a stinkbug. This species loved my Beautyberry plants for sure. And I think it is a predatory Stinker. Possibly something in Podisus but I nearly went blind looking through these guys pages.  
And from Camp what must be the same or very closely related Stinker in 2020. Less pointy shoulders. Bright orange antenna and legs.   
And a finely etched predatory Stinker, Apoecilus cynicus from the trees on the back side of the property. These things are alert to photographers. Heavy predators on caterpillars.  
 

This crowd of hatchlings was almost unnoticable on my mound of blackberry and rose at the end of the driveway. Each indivdual here maybe 3mm long with the empty egg casings nearby. Pretty sure they are stinkbugs but this could be wrong. They were dispersed the next day. 

The amazing nymph of the Florida Predatory Stinkbug. Euthyrhynchus floridanus. I found these in Grassy Lake in 2011. I have not seen them elsewhere in AR. They go through five instars. They hunt in packs. Females lay up to 90 eggs in one sitting. Note this one is sharing the hopper with another nymph.  

The hatch on my front porch in 2020 and perhaps also Stinkers. Even smaller that the 3 mm guys up above. Perhaps several species have the red black coloration soon after hatching.