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Fletcher Wildlife Garden | all galleries >> Beetles (Coleoptera) of the FWG (23 Galleries) >> Tortoise Beetles and the Hispines (Family: Chrysomelidae, Subfamily: Cassidinae) > Tortoise beetle (Charidotella)
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06-AUG-2013 Christine Hanrahan

Tortoise beetle (Charidotella)

I spend a lot of time on my hands and knees looking for tortoise beetles because they fascinate me. They are such odd little insects, looking as if encased in plastic! At first, I thought this one was C. purpurata, but as it is not one I've ever seen before, I'm not sure, and nor am I certain it even occurs up this way. Checking images for the more familiar golden tortoise beetle (C. sexpunctata), I discovered that although their more familiar colours are a bright gold, and a deep red (when upset!), they can occasionally turn am orangey colour. I'm still searching to see if I can ID this one to species. In the meantime, I also searched for larvae and found one (see next two images).

Canon PowerShot SX20 IS
1/1000s f/2.8 at 5.0mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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