Meet the golden tortoise beetle (Charidotella sexpunctata).

“They are pretty spectacular in the sunlight, and so brightly metallic your initial thoughts are, ‘This can’t be real’,” entomologist Sean McCann shares with Upvoted.

Yes. These fabulous little divas look alien AF, but they are actually native to none other than—drumroll—North America. (You were probably thinking Australia, weren’t you?) They’re particularly abundant in New Jersey and Florida.

Don’t worry: They’re harmless to humans in spite of their “exotic” looks. You’ll find them munching on sweet potatoes, bindweed, and leaves from other plants, McCann says.

The golden tortoise beetle—sometimes called goldenbugs—are somewhat of a mystery. Compared to other insects, we don’t really know that much about this species, according to the University of Florida.

What we do know, however, will fascinate and disgust you and make you feel all sorts of strange things. Read on at your own risk.

Let’s ease you in with a fun fact: One thing that sets these little guys apart from other insects is their ability to change colors.

According to a Georgetown University study, their signature shimmery bodies can turn into a dull brown, purple, bright orange, or even green color. This isn’t particularly unusual, except for the fact that they can control their color change.

Golden tortoise beetle changing colors (Chuck/CCBY)

This color change usually happens when they feel threatened (like if you decide to poke them) or during copulation.

Speaking of copulation, one lucky Georgetown University researcher in 1979 watched a bunch of goldenbugs have sex in petri dishes. For science.

Some of them would mate for around 15 minutes, which is a long-ass time for a bug. But other bugs would mate for around nine hours. NINE HOURS.

But here’s where things really get weird: The larvae of goldenbugs are blessed with spines that grow on their, um, “posteriors.” These spines are eloquently called “anal forks.” And anal forks are a beautiful, glorious thing.

The larvae attaches their fecal matter and other sorts of nasty bits to the spines, which creates a sort of poop shield that protects them from predators.

In case you’re curious to see this live (like I am), I made a gif for all you sick fucks:

This gif just proves that: a) I don’t want anyone looking at my search history, and b) Mother Nature doesn’t give a shit about anything except for propagating the species, by any means necessary.