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Gold Bug is Tortoise Beetle

On · Category: Tortoise Beetles · 5 Comments

Subject: Can you help me?
Location: Pennsylvania , USA
May 11, 2013 2:30 pm
I found this bug on my door outside and I never seen a gold bug before. Can you tell me what type it is?
Signature: Tom R.

Tortoise Beetle

Tortoise Beetle

Hi Tom,
This beautiful insect that looks like a drop of gold paint is a Golden Tortoise Beetle, Charidotella sexpunctata, and it feeds on the leaves of morning glories and other plants in the family Convolvulaceae.  Golden Tortoise Beetles are capable of changing colors, and much to the dismay of insect collectors, they lose their lovely golden color after death.  See Bugguide for additional information on the Golden Tortoise Beetle.

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Gold Bug: Golden Tortoise Beetle Goldbug Changes Colors Tortoise Beetle Mottled Tortoise Beetle
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Tortoise Beetle and Stink Bug Nymphs from Costa Rica

On · Category: Stink Bugs and Shield Bugs, Tortoise Beetles · Add Comment

Subject: Metallic Green Bug
Location: Northern Costa Rica
May 2, 2013 1:58 pm
I encountered these insects on the edge of the forest in Northern Costa Rica. At first I thought they were some sort of beetle, but I found the same plants also had what seem to be nymphs of the same species. Searching for some ID for them online I came up empty. My guess is some sort of shield bug.
Signature: Siggy

Tortoise Beetle

Tortoise Beetle:  Omocerus casta

Dear Siggy,
You have two distinct insect orders represented in your request, and at least two, and possibly three different species.  The “metallic green bug” is actually a Tortoise Beetle, and we believe it is in the genus Omocerus based on an image we located on The Befuddled Loris (scroll down) and verified on the Coleoptera of Costa Rica where it is identified as Omocerus casta.  This same beetle can also be found on the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Discover Life.

Stink Bug Nymph

Stink Bug Nymph

The other two creatures are Hemipteran nymphs and we believe they are different species.  They are most likely Stink Bugs in the family Pentatomidae.

Stink Bug Nymph

Stink Bug Nymph

Daniel,
Well that clarifies things a bit. I found several of each kind of the insects I sent images of in the same small area, so I thought they must be of the same species. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

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Antique, Victorian Brooch made with actual Tortoise Beetles

On · Category: Bug Art, Tortoise Beetles · Add Comment

Subject: Scarab Victorian Brooch
Location: Oregon
January 15, 2013 5:09 pm
This brooch had four beetles on it, but one fell off. If you Google, ”green scarab beetle,” lots of pictures of this species come up for sale called, ”antique Victorian brooch.” One website, http://wanderinweeta.blogspot.com/2010/07/ancient-mystery-beetle.html, has the best pictures I have seen where one commenter says it’s not a scarab, but rather, a tortoise beetle (Chrysomelidae). I am interested in your opinion, and whether or not you know if a replacement to fix my brooch is possible.
Signature: Jerry Burke

Antique Tortoise Beetle Brooch

Hi Jerry,
We agree 100% that these are not Scarab Beetles, but rather, that they are Leaf Beetles in the family Chrysomelidae, possibly Tortoise Beetles in the tribe Cassidini.  Here are some examples of North American species from BugGuide.  We have never seen this particular species, but we did find other examples online of Victorian jewelry made with these beetles which are incorrectly being called Scarabs, as well as some modern jewelry by Lito Karakostanoglou.  We will continue to research this matter.

After finding numerous examples of Victorian Jewelry made with these Leaf Beetles incorrectly identified as being Scarab Beetles, we finally found the Mid-19th Century Jewelry website with this image correctly identified as being earings made of Tortoise Beetles.  The Evolution website has a pair of earrings with the species identified as Desmonota variolosa with this information:  “Tortoise Beetle Earrings – Desmonota variolosa  The tortoise beetle is a member of the leaf beetle subfamily. These tortoise beetles have been mounted on a pair of sterling silver earrings. Their beautiful green sheen is sure to attract attention and open the wearer up to a host of compliments.”  You might want to consider ordering a pair of earrings from Evolution and having a jeweler replace the missing Tortoise Beetle in your brooch.  According to Encyclopedia Britannica:  “The pits and grooves covering the South American leaf beetle Desmonota variolosa give it an iridescent green colour with depth resembling that of an emerald.”  There is a nice image of these beetles in the Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery Collections website.  We have given up hunting for a photo online of a living Desmonota variolosa, but we just thought of a new search idea.

We did find a similar looking red Tortoise Beetle from Costa Rica on the Nature Closeups website that is identified as being in the genus Spaethiella.  We also found a gorgeous blue and red Tortoise Beetle from the Amazon on Green Tracks News identified as being in the genus Eugenysa.  Alas, we could not find any images of living Desmonota variolosa.  If any of our readers get lucky enough to find a photo of a living specimen of Desmonota variolosa, please comment on this posting.

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Tortoise Beetle

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Subject: gold beetle?
Location: Ojai, California
January 11, 2013 9:09 am
My brother found this in his garden in southern California. Any idea what it is?
Thanks for your time.
Signature: Jeff

Tortoise Beetle

Dear Jeff,
This is a Tortoise Beetle in the tribe Cassidinae.  In trying to identify your species, the coloration looks most like the Anacua Tortoise Beetle, Coptocycla texana, a species BugGuide lists only in Texas.  The markings look most like the Clavate Tortoise Beetle, Plagiometriona clavata, though we are not used to seeing this golden coloration in that species.  Interestingly, while researching this on BugGuide, we found your photo and the current opinion there, as posted by Ron M is:  “Although the golden shine… …doesn’t match any examples currently in the guide, I think it will be Clavate Tortoise Beetle (Plagiometriona clavata) but please wait for other opinions.”

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Tortoise Beetle

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Subject: What bug is this?
Location: Tucson, AZ
September 20, 2012 9:19 am
My son and I were at the pool when we saw this bug in Tucson, AZ. Its body reminded me of a ladybug but the colors and design on it are different. Could you please help us identify this bug?
Thank you,
Julie
Signature: Julie

Tortoise Beetle

Hi Julie,
This is a Tortoise Beetle in the Leaf Beetle tribe Cassidini and we believe we have correctly identified it as Deloyala lecontii based on photos on BugGuide.  On the genus page, BugGuide states:  “larvae and adults feed on plants in the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae).”  After death, Tortoise Beetles lose their lovely metallic gleam.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Green Stink Bug Nymphs, Mottled Tortoise Beetle and Marbled Orbweaver from Canada

On · Category: Orb Weavers, Stink Bugs and Shield Bugs, Tortoise Beetles · Add Comment

Subject: These bugs are everywhere!
Location: Vaudreuil-Soulanges, Quebec
August 9, 2012 8:59 pm
Hi there,
I’m a bug friendly person(no bug squishing in this house!)and always take the time to really check out and appreciate any bugs I have come across. Now that I have kids, they are really getting into bugs as well.
I’ve been out in the country for 13 years now and have never come across the bug in picture #1, however, this year they are literally everywhere… On the back deck, on the house, in the house, on shrubs, on the cars and garbage cans, etc…The other day my 8 year old son collected over 20 in under 10 minutes just in a small area around our back door. I went to check on my garden the other day and found a bunch on one of my corn stalks. I thought it might be some kind of stink bug because of the shape, but haven’t found a pic of one that matches. Also of all the ones we have collected and shoo-ed out of the house, none of them stank at all. What are they?
While I’m at it, I’ve attached 2 more bug pics that I would like ID’d. I found bug #2 crawling on a rock and was taken by it’s shiny gold green shell/markings.
Bug #3 is not a bug, but a spider. This fat guy has been living above my backdoor and seems to become active only at night. I thought it was some kind of orb weaver, but couldn’t find a match.
Thanks for any help!
Signature: Cindy

Green Stink Bug Nymphs

Hi Cindy,
Normally we do not like to include “bugs” from different categories in the same posting unless they have a distinctive relationship to one another, like predator and prey, however, all of your inquiries are either interesting, timely or unusual, so we are making an exception.  Additionally, all of your photos are quite nice.  The numerous insects are Stink Bug nymphs, and we have been receiving many identification requests for them in the past week.  Despite their black coloration, these are Green Stink Bug nymphs, Chinavia hilaris, and you can compare your image to this photo from BugGuide.  Another common name for this species is Green Soldier Bug according to BugGuide which states they are:  “extremely polyphagous: recorded from 20 plant families(5); adults and older nymphs prefer developing seeds and fruit. May be a pest on soybean, cotton, fruit trees (esp. peach), and many vegetables.”

Mottled Tortoise Beetle

The green beetle is a Mottled Tortoise Beetle, Deloyala guttata, and according to BugGuide:  “larvae and adults feed on leaves of Convolvulaceae (morning glory family).”

Marbled Orbweaver

The spider is an Orbweaver, and we believe we have correctly identified it as a Marbled Orbweaver, Araneus marmoreus.  This is a highly variable species, but we located a matching photo of a white individual on BugGuide.  It was also found in Canada.

Thank you for the quick reply! The kids and I have enjoyed reading up on our new buggy friends. I’ll definitely be sending in a few more bug pics that I haven’t been able to ID, sometimes typing a general description into Google gets me hundreds of pages to go through, being stuck on dial-up certainly doesn’t help! Liked you guys on Facebook as well :)
Cindy

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Tortoise Beetle from Nicaragua

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Subject: Is that a Ladybug?
Location: San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
July 5, 2012 8:42 pm
Hello (again ;-) Bugman!
IS this a ladybug? It is very beautiful, all shiny and full of colors in the sunshine ;-)
thanks!
Signature: PunkRockGirl

Tortoise Beetle

Dear PunkRockGirl,
We have noticed that you have sent a few emails over the past week and we have been very bad about posting any of your submissions.  This is not a Ladybug, and for the record, Ladybugs are more correctly called Lady Beetles.  This is a Tortoise Beetle and they are known for their iridescent colors, however, once the Tortoise Beetle dies, the colors fade.  Specimens in collections are never as beautiful as living Tortoise Beetles.  We believe we found a matching photo on FlickR from Costa Rica, however, it is not identified to the species level.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Clavate Tortoise Beetle

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Subject: Odd leaf-eating bug in Maine
Location: Coastal Maine, USA
June 17, 2012 9:26 pm
I found this creature yesterday on a leaf. It’s smaller than a dime. Can you tell me what it is?
Thank you!
Signature: Zach

Clavate Tortoise Beetle

Hi Zach,
This is a Clavate Tortoise Beetle.  Since they feed on the leaves of tomato plants and related plants in the family, including peppers, eggplant and other cultivated plants, Clavate Tortoise Beetles attract more attention than the average Leaf Beetle.

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What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination