Not japanese beetles? Sarah

no, sarah,much smaller and metallic gold color...never saw any like these before.Haven't seen them for a few days now so maybe they've moved on to their next buffet!

I just discovered the same bug here over the weekend. I have never seen anything like it before either. I know it is not a japanese beetle(I played with them when I was a kid). I was not sure if they were munching on my morning glorys or not but that is where I found them. They are actually pretty, they look like they are made of gold. However, I will still kill them if I find out they making a meal of my plants. I hope someone can ID them.

See if these are your culprits. In this article it says they really like munching on morning glories.

Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Golden Tortoise Beetle

Yes it's the golden tortoise beetle. They are gorgeous, but they do put little holes in morning glory leaves. I found a couple on my plant last year and left them alone. They didn't hurt the plant.

thanks for the help! The tortise beetle was the culprit!! Seems to have moved on to better things though, haven't seen one for a week or so and the plants all look like they will be fine!