Insect and Spider Identification: CLOSED: What is this black and gold insect., 1 by Vec101

Vec101 wrote:
This insect is feasting off of the nectar from the flowers on my porch. It especially likes the little purple flowers (sorry, I don't know the name). The insect is about 1 inch or a little longer, it's body is gold with a black band on the lower part, gold again, then it looks like it is black at the "tail" end. It is quiet - does not make any type of buzzing sound.

It is the middle of August and this is the first time I have seen it. It's very brave and oblivious to anything but the flowers - it let's me get very close to it, I could reach out and touch it. My dog was watching it and the insect flew onto a flower just a very few inches from my dog's mouth (she likes to kill bees but she hasn't gone after this insect).