This is a stunning, metallic gold beetle slightly smaller than a ladybird beetle. It truly appears like a glistening golden droplet in your garden. The sides of the prothorax and elytra are flared out and extend beyond the body, thus hiding the head and much of the legs. This extended covering is the derivation of the name "tortoise beetle" or "turtle beetle." Although collected in Escondido (San Diego County), the golden tortoise beetle is relatively uncommon in southern California. It is more common in the eastern United States. Both adults and larvae feed on the leaves of morning glories (Convolvulaceae) and related plants. In the case of the aggressive, fast-spreading bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), this little beetle could actually be beneficial. In order to capture their beautiful golden luster, these beetles should be photographed alive. The color appears especially brilliant during mating season. On dead beetles the golden luster fades rapidly.

Click beetles make a distinctive "clicking sound" when they are placed on their back. They are unable to right themselves with their legs; however, they have a special mechanism on their underside that snaps closed, thus flipping their body right-side-up. The actual mechanism is a pronotal spine that fits into a groove on the mesosternum. The following explanation comes from An Introduction To The Study of Insects by D.J. Borror and D.M. Delong (1964). When placed on its back, it bends its head and prothorax backward, so that only the extemities of the body are touching the surface on which it rests; then, with a sudden jerk and clicking sound, the body is straightened out; this movement snaps the pronotal spine into the mesosternal groove and throws the insect into the air, spinning end over end. Sometimes it takes several attempts (clicks) to land on its legs.

One of the most remarkable and destructive families of beetles includes members of the family Bostrichidae. Adult short circuit beetles (Scobicia declivis) bore into lead sheathing of telephone cables causing short circuiting when moisture enters the small holes. Trunks of native California fan palms in the southwestern U.S. often contain large circular tunnels, the work of huge boring larvae (Dinapate wrightii). The hardwood floor beneath a palm trunk section at the San Diego Museum of Natural History was deeply grooved by one of these larvae. The adult beetle is truly bizarre. In the late 1800's museums paid up to $1,000 to an enterprising collector for one of these striking beetles. The collector (probably a business major) reportedly inflated the value of his merchandise by keeping their exact location a secret.

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