Bug FAQEggplant Tortoise Beetle
Gratiana pallidula · Order: Coleoptera · Family: Chrysomelidae
Live adults have a light green pronotum and golden-brown elytra with transparent, almost parallel margins; dead specimens turn medium brown with lighter edges. The eggplant tortoise beetle occurs in Central and North America.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Live beetles show a light green pronotum and golden-brown wing covers with clear, parallel sides and many tiny pits in rows on the disc. Dead beetles are usually medium brown with lighter brown-yellow margins.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Gratiana pallidula belongs to the tortoise beetle family Chrysomelidae.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its native range includes Central America and North America.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 24 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Chrysomelidae)
Spotted Cucumber BeetleDiabrotica undecimpunctataDamages trees, gardens or crops
Bean WeevilAcanthoscelides obtectusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Cowpea WeevilCallosobruchus maculatusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Swamp Milkweed Leaf BeetleLabidomera clivicollisDamages trees, gardens or crops
Alder Leaf BeetleAgelastica alniDamages trees, gardens or crops
Dogbane Leaf BeetleChrysochus auratusSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratiana_pallidula
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.