| any of several turtle-shaped leaf beetles, as Chelymorpha cassidea (argus tortoise beetle or milkweed tortoise beetle), which resembles the ladybird beetle and feeds primarily on bindweed and milkweed. |
| tortoise beetle n. Any of several small beetles of the subfamily Cassidinae, shaped somewhat like a tortoise and having soft, fleshy larvae that eat the leaves of trees. |
tortoise beetle
any member of more than 3,000 beetle species that resemble a turtle because of the forward and sideways extensions of the body. Tortoise beetles range between 5 and 12 mm (less than 0.5 inch) in length, and the larvae are spiny. Both adults and larvae of some species are destructive to garden plants and sweet potatoes
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