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common
Golden Tortoise Beetle
Charidotella sexpunctata
- Habitat
- Bindweed and morning-glory leaves across eastern North America
- Body length
- 6 mm
- Order
- Coleoptera · Chrysomelidae
Weird but real
It shifts from mirror-bright gold to brick red on demand, pumping fluid through micro-layers under its clear shell like a living mood ring.
Why it's cool
A 6mm beetle that wears a transparent tortoise shell and changes colour when you spook it — molten gold one second, dull red the next.
