PestControlBasics
Menu

Identify

Treat

Local

About

Palmetto Tortoise Beetle

Hemisphaerota cyanea[3]

The palmetto tortoise beetle is a small, metallic dark blue beetle that feeds on native and ornamental palms in the Southeast.[1][2]

Group
Insect
Order
Coleoptera
Family
Chrysomelidae
US records
6 states
Sources
3 cited
Updated
2026-10-16
Palmetto tortoise beetle, a dark blue dome-shaped beetle, on a palm frond
Palmetto tortoise beetle, a dark blue dome-shaped beetle, on a palm frond. Photo: Brighton Lee, public domain (CC0), via iNaturalist
On this page
  1. Identification
  2. Where it lives
  3. Biology
  4. Damage and signs
  5. Health risk
  6. Control
  7. Related profiles
  8. Common questions
  9. Sources

How to identify it

  • Adults are about 1/4 inch, dark blue to purple and dome-shaped like a tortoise shell, with rows of pits and ridges on the wing covers.[1][2]
  • The feet are greatly enlarged; when attacked or in high winds the beetle presses thousands of bristles to the frond and releases oil to hold on.[1][2]
  • Larvae carry a dense, thatch-like shield of coiled dry frass on their backs.[1]

Where it lives

Recorded from Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Texas, probably Louisiana and Mississippi, and South Carolina, wherever its palms grow.[1][2]

US map: public records from 6 states since 1990 (GBIF).

Biology and life cycle

Eggs are cemented to leaves and covered with fecal pellets; larvae and pupae are found in mid to late summer, and adults all year.[1]

Larvae pupate under their frass shield on the leaf.[1]

Damage and signs

  • Hosts are saw palmetto, cabbage palm, dwarf palmetto and other native and exotic palms.[1][2]
  • Larvae scrape trough-like marks in leaves but rarely cause significant damage; most of the time the beetles go unnoticed.[1][2]

Health risk

None to people or pets.[1][2]

Control

Prevention

Control is rarely needed; the beetles occasionally scar fronds but seldom harm the palm.[1][2]

Common questions

What are the tiny blue beetles stuck to my palmetto?
Likely palmetto tortoise beetles, which cling to fronds with oily feet.[1][2]
What is the straw-like tuft on my palm leaf?
Often a palmetto tortoise beetle larva hiding under its coiled frass shield.[1]

Sources

  1. University of Florida IFAS Extension (EDIS, Featured Creatures), “Palmetto Tortoise Beetle, Florida Tortoise Beetle, Hemisphaerota cyanea (EENY-232).” ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN388 (accessed 2026-10-16)
  2. Clemson Cooperative Extension Home & Garden Information Center, “Palmetto Tortoise Beetles: Masters of Camouflage.” hgic.clemson.edu/palmetto-tortoise-beetles-masters-of-camouflage/ (accessed 2026-10-16)
  3. iNaturalist, “Hemisphaerota cyanea taxon page (order and family).” www.inaturalist.org/taxa/126416 (accessed 2026-10-06)

Updated 2026-10-16. Built from sourced records. Spot an error? Tell us.