This morning’s golden tortoise beetle sighting was the first in a long time. The following was written when I first discovered these elusive insects a number of years ago:

The Beetle and the Bindweed
September 7, 2009
This summer’s garden seems to have had a unifying theme: beauty and the beasties, with a subtext of appearance and deception. Even the bindweed, which spent the month of July wheedling its way into the perennial and vegetable beds and tried to disguise itself among the clematis, provided a backdrop for some garden magic. This bit of enchantment appeared in the guise of the golden tortoise beetle, Charidotella sexpunctata bicolor. In a true sleight of hand performance, what appears initially as a drop of molten gold disappears the moment it is disturbed, replaced by an insect looking much like a nondescript, drab ladybug. Catching sight of a golden tortoise beetle was compensation enough for tolerating a few weeds.