John, Paul, George, Ringo and Chysochus

Today when I was up in Grey County getting man-handled by 90km/hr wind gusts I took refuge in the vehicle for a quick lunch break.  The CBC reported that outtake photos from the Beatles Abbey Road covershoot had sold at auction for £180,000.  I'm more of a Stones fan so I shrugged and changed the channel...I forget what was playing but it was probably Shake It Off by Taylor Swift.

This cool beetle is called a dogbane beetle (Chrysochus auratus).  They feed on dogbane and milkweed.  The plant in this photo is indian-hemp (Apocynum cannabinum var. cannabinum); the other common dogbane in Ontario is spreading dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium ssp. androsaemifolium).  Indian-hemp prefers wetter habitats (this one was growing on the floodplain of the Thames), whereas spreading dogbane prefers drier habitats.  Anyways, these beetles are native to Eastern North America, they look similar to Japanese beetles (Popillia japonica) which have a brownish wing cover versus the iridescent green on dogbane beetles.