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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Wonder Bug!

 




Have you ever seen a bug like this? The other day I was wandering around with my camera and caught a glimpse of a shimmer of gold from the underside of a weed. When I turned the leaf towards me, I saw a most amazing sight! I have never seen a bug like this! It looked like a soap bubble all dressed up in gold! I snapped off the weed a few inches from where the bug was, and placed it on my bed of Sunset Bells. It moved around very slowly, but after a few shots, it flew away! Some of you must have seen this before, but for me, it's the first sighting. I hope I get to see it again, in the near future....
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Edited To Add--I'm so glad I got the name of the Wonder Bug I'd posted yesterday. The first one to come up with the name is an anonymous visitor (wish I knew your name) who provided the ID-- Golden Tortoise Beetle/Charidotella sexpunctata bicolor (Fabricius). Anonymous, thank you so much!


The second one is Rocksea whose wonderful site has info and photographs of two of the species. One is green, and the other, is like the one I posted. You can view them here. Rocksea, thank you so much!

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is amazing Kanak - I don't have a clue what that is. I'll be curious to find out. Enjoy your day.

tina said...

That is too cool! I've not seen a bug like this before in my garden. I wonder if the bubble is like a protective coat of armor?

Sujata said...

"All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small..."
makes you think of all His wonderful creations.

Racquel said...

Nope, never seen anything like it Kanak. That is a pretty interesting looking creature. :)

Anonymous said...

Wow,Kanak, it is amazing! It looks like a piece of jewelry! And it flew? I don't even see wings. I am so glad you got a picture of it. Hope someone will tell you what it is. I would love to know too. :-)
Frances

easygardener said...

It's very beautiful - like a miniature space creature in a golden space suit!

islandgal246 said...

Wow!! Looks like an extraterrestial creature to me:-)The aliens are here beware.....LOL

Randy Emmitt said...

Kanak,

You have some type of shield bug. Very cool too! Never seen them with gold like that.

Lona said...

Now that is the strangest bud I have ever seen. It looks like a mini spaceship.

Chloe m said...

Kanak,
A most interesting specimen. Good shot!
Rosey

Carol said...

What an array of creatures nature has... hopefully it will not damage your plants ... some sort of beetle perhaps. Great photo. Carol

Susie said...

Well I've never seen anything like that in my entire life Kanak! It gets my vote for most beautiful bug.

Corner Gardener Sue said...

It looks like an alien on a space ship. I see Randy told you it's a shield bug of some kind. What an interesting looking thing!

sweetbay said...

Ha, that does look like a wonder bug! I'm glad you got an ID. How does it move around I wonder?

Noelle Johnson said...

It kind of looks like a bug visiting from outer space!

Anonymous said...

Your Knight in shiny armour?

Unknown said...

Thank you all for leaving your comments. Loved reading them all:-)

The bubble must be a wonder protection...when I saw it, I didn't even think it could fly. Its movement was slow as it navigated the blade of leaf. But soon, the gold parted in the middle and a pair of wings magically appeared:) Before I could even take it all in, the alien flew away...never to be seen again!! Sigh!

When I asked our-off-and-on-odd-job- man whether he had ever seen anything like that, he replied in a very nonchalant manner...Oh they normally stay on the underside of leaves!!

I hope I'll manage better shots of this 'spaceship' next time...if it comes again, all dressed up to the nines..in gold!!

Stephanie said...

Looks like a little turtle. No I have not seen something like this! So strange looking but unique.

Anonymous said...

I think it is a golden tortoise beetle, Charidotella sexpunctata bicolor (Fabricius).

rocksea said...

lovely. it is a tortoise beetle. a similar golden one is in kerala too. see an earlier article: http://www.rocksea.org/nature-smaller-end-specturm-tortoise-beetles

lotusleaf said...

Looks like something from outer space to me! It is beautiful.

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

It looks like a little jewel!

Unknown said...

Steph, you're right about the turtle...I've already put up an ETA on my post.

Padma/Tatyana...glad you were here:)

Anonymous/Rocksea....grazie!!

Wendy said...

What an extraordinary looking bug! At first when reading this, I was worried you'd placed it on your bed!! Then I read further....bed of Sunset Bells. Ah - that's more like it. LOL!

Glad somebody i.d.'ed the little critter.

Birdy Official said...

Never observed a bug of this sort. It's really an amazing and wonderful bug.

Unknown said...

Wendy/Birdy...you could check out the link. I hope I get to see some strange looking bugs in the near future!