Golden tortoise beetle
| Golden Tortoise Beetle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Coleoptera |
| Suborder: | Polyphaga |
| Family: | Chrysomelidae |
| Subfamily: | Cassidinae |
| Tribe: | Cassidini |
| Genus: | Charidotella |
| Species: | C. sexpunctata |
| Binomial name | |
| Charidotella sexpunctata (Fabricius, 1781) | |
| Synonyms | |
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The golden tortoise beetle (Charidotella sexpunctata) is a species of beetle in the leaf beetle family, Chrysomelidae. It is native to the Americas.
This beetle is associated with plants in the family Convolvulaceae, including sweet potato, morning glories, and bindweeds. Adults and larvae feed on foliage.[1]
The beetle is 5 to 7 millimeters in length. It is variable in color from orange to gold and it is often metallic, earning it the nickname "goldbug". Its external margins are expanded and lack pigmentation, becoming nearly transparent.[1] The color changes seasonally, and the beetle can change color when threatened by changing the flow of fluid between the layers of its cuticle. It turns from shiny gold to dull brown when disturbed.[2]
The beetle lays clusters of about 20 flat, white eggs on stems or on the undersides of leaves. The spiny, yellowish or reddish brown larva emerges from the egg in 5 to 10 days. The larva accumulates shed skins and frass on a structure called an anal fork, which it positions over its body as a fecal shield to hide it from predators. This is usually effective against smaller insect predators, but not larger ones, such as hemipterans. After two to three weeks it becomes a spiny brown frass-covered pupa, and one or two weeks later it emerges as an adult.[1]
Predators of the beetle include parasitoids such as the eulophid wasp Tetrastichus cassidus and the tachinid fly Eucelatoriopsis dimmocki. Other predators, especially of the larvae, include ladybird beetles, damsel bugs, shield bugs, and assassin bugs.[1]
There are two subspecies, ssp. bicolor and ssp. sexpunctata.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Golden tortoise beetle. University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.
- ↑ Murray, T. Golden Tortoise Beetle. Garden Friends and Foes. Washington State University, Whatcom County Extension.
- ↑ Charidotella sexpunctata (Fabricius, 1781). ITIS.
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