I found this small Lytta crawling on my deck, which is near some woodlands. Captured and posed. It was much smaller than the 25-30 mm Lytta polita that I and other NC BugGuider's have been seeing this spring:



According to Brimley (1) and the NCSU collection (see guide page), only Lytta polita and Lytta aenea occur in this area. This matches the size and appearance of Lytta aenea, which is shown by the Dillons (2). So I'm pretty sure the ID is correct. I note here, the purplish cast to elytra (coppery in L. polita) and the nearly all-yellow legs (yellow and black, apparently, in L. polita).

The Dillons (2) mention a pretty obvious character for telling Lytta from Epicauta, a similar genus: antennae are "submoniliform" (almost like beads on a string) in Lytta, more thread-like in Epicauta. This is much easier to see than the patch of hair on the underside of the front femur, mentioned by White (3) and also mentioned by the Dillons.