Lonely beetle

At our usual entry point to Crescent Beach, where the lane emerges from deep shade to the sunlight, we always have to pause to look at the flowers, wild and cultivated, that bloom there. This time, we found purple irises, a towering mass of small white flowers I can't quite identify, the brilliant evergreen roses, and beside them, the quieter wild Nootka rose.

On one of them a golden soldier beetle longhorn beetle caught my eye.

Golden back, black pronotum and head.

Pidonia scripta, a flower longhorn

This looks similar to the soldier beetle I usually see, the Common Red Soldier Beetle, Rhagonycha fulva, often in large groups, usually mating. It has the long golden body, but with black tips on the tail, and a red head. I only saw the one beetle here, although I looked at other flowers nearby.

Common Red Soldier Beetle, Rhagonycha fulva, on daisy, June 2010

When we came back to the shore an hour and a half later, this same beetle, as far as I could tell, was still on the same flower. And still alone.

UPDATE: BugGuide has identified it as Pidonia scripta, a flower longhorn beetle. Post corrected accordingly.