This beetle is hiding in a flowerhead of the common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). This is yet another introduced ladybeetle, this one, as the name suggests, from Asia. These ones have been around since 1916 when they were brought to NA to control aphids. They do a good job, but they also breed prolifically and have spread far and wide across the continent. It is the larvae that consume large quantities of aphids, but adults also eat them, as well as caterpillars and insect eggs.

It has many common names: Japanese, Asian, Halloween, harlequin or pumpkin ladybird, (all of these courtesy of Bug Guide). This is a highly variable species, ranging from almost no spots as here, to many spots, and from an orange to deep red colour, but there are also brown and yellow forms, and the spots can be round or square.