Family Chrysomelidae
They are common in South Africa and can vary from a copper colour to orange or red.
They are smallish, about 12mm in length.
The eggs are laid on the underside of the leaf and hatch after about two weeks, the pupa being white with black markings.
Beetle larvae stack their excreta (the long thin, black filaments) as well as cast off skins onto a thin, fork-like appendage near the muscular anus. This forms the “tail” of the larva.
