Hah! Fooled ya. Not what you were expecting, I bet. This is a Dogbane Beetle (Chrysochus auratus) and one of my favorites. It gets its name, for those who aren’t familiar, from the Dogbane plant (Apocynum cannabinum) aka Indian Hemp, among other Apocynums, that it feeds upon. And, no, I have not tried to smoke it to see. 🙂
The colorful iridescence of these beetles is irresistible. This was the only one I found on a very long row of dogbane, but the season is early and I hope to find a few more before their time is up.
Pretty cool insect, eh? I did get out for the full moon again last night and this morning……yawn. But everything is still in the camera. I hope to process them later today and, if they were successful, share them tomorrow.
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Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
Yep, you fooled us all right: you might say your dogbane was an expectation bane. That’s okay though, because irresistible iridescence never irritates.
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I tried to do a little alliteration related alliteration in response , but my brain is too tired from lack of sleep…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
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Irresistible iridescence never irritates – I couldn’t top that!
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Steve had me pretty speechless with that too. Glad I’m not the only one at a loss. 🙂
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Nice beetle. Let me know if smoking the plant is successful. 🙂
Do you have the red milkweed beetles in your area. If so, get a picture of them. And, pick them up between thumb and index finger. Hold to your ear. They squeak.
I look forward to your next moon shots.
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It seems that botanists have downgraded the former milkweed family to a subfamily of the dogbane family. What’s the world coming to? Next thing you know, Pluto won’t be a planet anymore.
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We had a milkweed family in the neighborhood but they moved to a more rural setting. As long as they don’t discover Pluto is not a dog.
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That will never happen.
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I don’t know, Jim. There’s a lot of revisionism going on these days. 🙄
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Thanks, Jim. Sorry, you will have to look elsewhere as my experimental days are long behind me. I think I am still paying the price for those old wayward experiences. 🙄
We do and I have done the pick up and squeak thing with them. They should be showing up here any day. In related news, I saw a monarch the other day. Saw none last year so an improvement, but no caterpillars on my plants so far.
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Colorful indeed! I do see these on occasion. Since they attract so much attention, I can only assume they have some defense mechanism like they taste really bad. I haven’t tried that yet.
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Let us know how that turns out, Mark. I have eaten ants and bees, but they were covered with chocolate and it was the better part of 60 years ago. I would guess that you are right about the red and maybe the iridescence plays a defensive role too.
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I think I feel Dogbane Beatle-mania coming on. Well it’s been a hard day’s night.
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Between last night and this morning it has been for sure, Andrew. Milkweed beetles squeak, maybe dogbanes sing and run around having cute antics.
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I don’t normally get excited about bug photography though I know it is incredibly hard to do. It’s not them, it’s me. I don’t like bugs. But that is one really cool looking bug, or beetle I should say. Love the colors and the detail. Great work.
James
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Thanks, James. There are an awful lot of them to not like. The more you see of them the better they look.
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Well. Here everyone is talking about canine doggies, and I was expecting bovine doggies, as in, “Git along, little doggies…” That beetle does look like he’d be fun to lasso and ride, and he’d be pretty easy to pick out of the herd.
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I dunno, Linda, seems like a slippery saddle.
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A lovely little thing of the dogbane.
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Are you thinking of hanging a pair from you ears, Yvonne? 🙂
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Ha-ha, Steve. Mayber a clever person could create a “piece” of jewelry by copying the colors of this little dogbane insect. . Brilliant, they are.
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There is a guy selling beetles, bugs and butterflies among other things as art, Yvonne. I shared this link with Lottie earlier http://www.pheromonedesign.com/product-cat/insects/singles/
I am not happy about this guy. Someone gave me a book of his “art” a few years back and, although I still have it since it was a gift, I am not going to be looking at it for art value….maybe for an ID but not for pleasure. He believes that taking hundreds or thousands of a particular species is good for its exposure to the public and will raise awareness. I doubt that. I don’t even like it when people chill their subjects for a picture much less collect them in great numbers for creation of a vision. I don’t have a problem with collectors who preserve them for study, although its not my thing. Photographing them is a bit harder than netting them but I prefer that even if it reduces my “catch”. 🙂
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I’m not even going to go there. It would incense me and cause my BP to go up and away. Please note that I wrote to create a “PIECE OF JEWELRY BY COPYING THE COLORS.” I hope who ever might have read my comment, understood what I had written. 🙂
What the guy is doing shold be illegal. For sure it is morally and ethically wrong.
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I am sure everyone understood, Yvonne.
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Uh-oh, I may have mistook the shiny beetles I saw on my dogbane this morning for Japanese Beetles…
Really?! Milkweeds are now dogbanes? All this reclassification can be a real bane.
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I hope not. It’s too bad that the Japanese Beetle is so destructive because they are also quite attractive. I am glad to be a layperson rather than a botanist. Dogbanes will always be dogbanes to me. 🙂
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….and now I’ll have to hold the next milkweed beetle I find to me ear to hear it squeak. So glad my kids won’t be there to see me do that….
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It’s a required experience for a naturalist, Melissa.
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This is sans doubt, THE most stunning beetle in the WORLD. And I reckon, that eating that weed is a contributing factor to its ‘Irresistible iridescence’ I’m hugely jealous of your beetle, Steve. I want one!
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I feel the same way, Lottie. However, the world is filled with gorgeous beetles and bugs of all kinds.
If you really want one, I think you were kidding, this guy http://www.pheromonedesign.com/product-cat/insects/singles/ sells framed insects. I am not a fan. I understand folks collecting insects, butterfly collections are the most popular, but at the numbers this guy sells them at seems a bit unfortunate to me. He claims it raises awareness of insects values and supports indigenous peoples who do the collecting, but I am not buying it.
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