Tortoise beetles are some of my very favorite beetles. There’s something about their shape that really appeals to me. Imagine my pleasure when we saw several of these in Florida during BugShot 2012:
Palmetto tortoise beetle, Hemisphaerota cyanea
Isn’t it beautiful? It’s even kinda metallic! This beetle definitely goes to 11.
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The Dragonfly Woman 
That is incredibly cool!
Glad you think so. They’re fantastic beetles!
What a coincidence: I am just today reading the chapter in Eisner’s For the love of Insects about this guy. THE masters of clamping down! (the bug, not Eisner). Great EM shots of the underside of the feet. He can hold on against 2 g of pulling force.
Yep, tortoise beetles are wonderful in so many ways. Nature… It’s just amazing!