Gold bug

A long time ago -- when I was a kid -- I came across a shiny golden beetle that was a little smaller than a lady bug.  What really astounded me was that this beetle began changing colors before my eyes.  It was so good at changing colors that it eventually escaped into the background, and I never saw anything like it ever again.  Rosebud!

The other day I was noodling around on the internet, and I came across this Wikipedia article about the Golden Tortoise beetle. 

Up until now, I honestly thought that the color-changing beetle from my childhood was either a pigment of my imagination or some rare mutant.

Now this has become one of my New Year's goals:  to find this beetle again and photograph it.   My chances are reasonable.  According to the Wikipedia article, this beetle is associated with morning glories  -- a plant that has become the scourge of my back yard.  Now that I know where to look, I think that it will only be a matter of time that I will acquire my Rosebud, and my sanity will no longer be in question.

That last part is pushing it, I guess.