Gold beetle, u, back, South Africa
A lovely gold-colored tortoise beetle from South Africa. Tribe Cassidini of the large leaf beetle family Chrysomelidae. Caught while on expedition to Kruger National Park, collatoral capture from a bowl trap. Just a lovely specimen about which I know only what I have told you. But, if you look closely on the underside there is a wee little man, one of the fairy kings, look it up, its in the literature. Photo by Cole Cheng.
We Are Made One with What We Touch and See
We are resolved into the supreme air,
We are made one with what we touch and see,
With our heart's blood each crimson sun is fair,
With our young lives each spring impassioned tree
Flames into green, the wildest beasts that range
The moor our kinsmen are, all life is one, and all is change.
- Oscar Wilde. Original public domain image from Flickr