Chrysochus auratus, or the dogbane beetle of eastern North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, is a member of the insect subfamily Eumolpinae

Eumolpinae

The Eumolpinae are a subfamily of the leaf beetles, or Chrysomelidae.-Genera:* Bedelia* Bromius* Callipta* Chloropterus* Chrysochares* Colaspidea* Colaspina* Colaspinella* Damasus* Eryxia* Eumolpus...

. It is primarily found east of the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...

 One of the brightest in its family, it is iridescent blue-green with a metallic copper, golden or crimson shine. Its diet consists of dogbane and milkweed. It measures between 8 and 11 mm (less than 0.5 inches) and has a convex, oval

Oval

An oval is any curve resembling an egg or an ellipse, such as a Cassini oval. The term does not have a precise mathematical definition except in one area oval , but it may also refer to:* A sporting arena of oval shape** a cricket field...

shape.