I notice there is tremendous color variation within this species. Does that occur in many other species or is this one an aberration?

good question anyway, Marty!
among beetles and true bugs (the two groups i'm more familiar with), some species seem to be rather consistent, but those with aposematic colors tend to display a maddening range of intraspecific variation. Many members of Chrysomelidae or Coccinellidae are all over the place.
say, when i see an all-black lepturine longhorn, i know that it might well be just a melanic form of anything, and that i cannot rule out any species that is normally patterned or otherwise has some pale[r] parts.
the human mind is badly skewed towards ostentatious visual clues, and that’s where our color vision keeps getting us into trouble when identifying bugs; it tricks us all the time into relying on wrong clues. it takes a lot of practice to overcome the temptation.

on the other hand, the shape is reliable, but the color tends to get in the way. i don't recall his name, but one of the greatest experts on mollusc shells was a blind guy who could only rely on touch --makes total sense to me! if only the bugs were bigger, if only our tactile sensors were better trained, and if we were only allowed to identify arthropods blindfolded, then ID errors would have been exceptionally rare.
i wish i could turn off my color vision to identify bugs --it would make the entire process way more foolproof and efficient, i swear... color is a huge distraction.

i also wonder why and how do we manage to discount color when recognizing, say, cars: paint it whatever, we still have no trouble telling apart makes and models, with very basic knowledge. why then can't we process the bug gestalt the same way?

Sorry for the rant, just venting my frustration about my own imperfect wiring...

Not a rant, no apologies needed.