---
title: "Thistle Tortoise Beetle"
description: "Cassida rubiginosa — Insetti e ragni. The thistle tortoise beetle (Cassida rubiginosa) is a species of beetle in the subfamily Cassidinae (tortoise beetles) and the genus Cassida."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/thistle-tortoise-beetle
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Thistle Tortoise Beetle

> Cassida rubiginosa — Insetti e ragni. The thistle tortoise beetle (Cassida rubiginosa) is a species of beetle in the subfamily Cassidinae (tortoise beetles) and the genus Cassida.

- Scientific name: *Cassida rubiginosa*
- Category: `insects` (Insetti e ragni)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 8209
- Wikidata: [Q136153](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q136153)
- iNaturalist taxon: [216166](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/216166)

## Names

- en: Thistle Tortoise Beetle
- de: Distelschildkäfer
- es: Groene schildpadkever
- fr: Casside rouillée
- nl: Groene schildpadkever
- pl: Tarczyk ostowy

## Countries with the most observations

US (2000), CA (889), GB (719), DE (359), RU (338), FR (318), NZ (296), NL (193), DK (152), FI (138), AT (137), UA (80)

## Summary

The thistle tortoise beetle (Cassida rubiginosa) is a species of beetle in the subfamily Cassidinae (tortoise beetles) and the genus Cassida. The thistle tortoise beetle can be recognized by its green, rounded back and it can be found on thistle plants in many regions of North America and Europe. The thistle tortoise beetle was first discovered in 1902 in Lévis, Quebec. In 1931, Nellie F. Paterson was the first to document the mature larva. Later, the instar larva of this species was first recorded in 2004 by Jolanta Świętojańska. The thistle tortoise beetle exhibits multiple defense behaviors, such as a flexible…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thistle_tortoise_beetle

## Photo

![Thistle Tortoise Beetle](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/thistle-tortoise-beetle/medium.jpg)

Photo: Sarah Adamson · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/228864035

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/thistle-tortoise-beetle?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).