I had some a few years ago on my ornamental sweet potatoes and they ate holes, leaving them looking quite ragged. At the time I looked them up, but haven't had them recently, so I don't remember name or anything other than they seem to be specific to sweet potatoes. They are stunningly beautiful, though - my first thought was that they would make lovely jewelry.

Not a Japanese beetle that was eating my sweet potatoes. I looked it up; it's a golden tortoise beetle, Charidotella bicolor. See link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Golden tortoise beetle

Wow, they're very variable looking - interesting.

Here is a link that might be useful: golden tortoise beetle on google images

This is from the site below. These guys don't seem to do much damage...

Host Plants
The golden tortoise beetle is associated with sweet potato and related species such as morning glory, Ipomoea spp.; and bindweed, Convolvulus spp. Only plants in the family Convolvulaceae are hosts.

Damage
Both larvae and adults feed on foliage. The typical form of injury is the creation of numerous small to medium-sized irregular holes. Both stages usually inhabit the lower surface, but eat entirely through the fo

Here is a link that might be useful: featured creatures at UFL

Thank you, all for the information and links. I didn't plant sweet potatoes so its probably all the morning glories he's checking out. I'll keep an eye on them to see if they left any family members.
Strange looking little bug !

I saw one this year for the first time too! Mine was all gold. I even mentioned it to my husband.

They showed up on my morning glories about 2 years ago, have never seen them on anything else. They really do a lot of damage...

I have seen them to silver and also orange colored ones with them in my mornings