Tetraopes tetrophthalmus

Red Milkweed Beetles, not to be confused with the milkweed bugs (Oncopeltus), don’t seem to be bothered by the toxic sap of milkweeds (Asclepius). In fact, like the more famous Monarch butterfly, their bold coloring serves as a warning they they taste like… yeech!… milkweed. (Here’s more on this fascinating topic.)As you might guess from the Texas-style horns, these are in the Cerambycidae family of long-horned beetles, the “horns” here being antennae. This species is associated with A. syriaca in particular; they lay their eggs on the lower stems or underground at the root crown; the larvae eat the roots.
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Ridgewood update: You know, NYC is a hellabig place, and your faithful correspondent just can’t hit every green highlight. So I haven’t given the site of the former Ridgewood Reservoir in Queens too much attention. But some commendable souls have been fighting the good fight to preserve this quirky bit of unintentional wilderness. (A fine howdy-do: the plan from Mayor “One Million Trees” Bloomberg’s administration was to destroy the sunken forest here; a good reminder that the Parks Dept. is often an environmental disaster.)