Beetles do not have instars, they go from grub stage to pupa and emerge as a fully sized and colored adult beetle.

Your insect is a beetle but not the spotted cuke beetle. Keep an eye out for any plant parts being chewed.

That "looks" like a Blister Beetle (head resembles an ant), and the plant looks like lettuce ;-)

potato beetle

No, it's not a potato beetle. Wrong shape and wrong patterning.

Yes, it is on the romaine lettuce, next to the eggplant, but I saw it first on the eggplant. I have had some chewing. Thank you all!

Blister Beetles come in all sorts of colors but this one below looks like what you have,...

http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_darklings/images/PC9_0163.jpg

It could be a blister beetle. You have provided a link to insects of Brisbane, Australia, a relatively small locale. Garden Mama does not provide any location info.

Again, my mistake. I am in zone 7, central Arkansas, in the suburbs. I need to edit my profile, don't I?

Yes, gardening and insect pest advice is far easier if the locale is known.

There are not a lot of beneficial beetles on vegetables, of course any ladybeetle species can be encouraged to stay. And if only a single odd beetle is present, don't worry too much unless you see it chewing. Your beetle is not a borer that attacks roots.

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The Australian blister beetle linked to above is in the genus Zonitis and I could not find any similar beetles in that genus for the USA.

Thx for locating the origin of that particular BB Logician, it looks like a dead ringer, sheesh, hope it's not another one to add to the invasive species list.

Garden Mama, I found your beetle in the family known as Leaf Beetles.

It is Neolema sexpunctata - Six-spotted Neolema.

https://bugguide.net/node/view/353402/bgimage

https://bugguide.net/node/view/805687/bgimage

https://bugguide.net/node/view/40278#food

^this page lists food sources for this beetle, mainly Spiderworts and Day Flowers, there is no mention of eating on garden vegetables (unless they are related to Spiderworts)

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To the other members attempting an identification: note the many matches required: orange body, orange and narrow thorax and head, six black spots in a certain pattern, dark medium-length antennae, black legs. Also the range for this beetle includes Arkansas. Little beetles are hard to identify, there are thousands.

Thank you! I will keep this site for future research.