[2] This insect is notable for its multiple defense mechanisms: it is highly mobile and swarms disperse with a loud buzz when disturbed; it is aposematically colored, which serves as a warning to any would-be predators that it is unpalatable; and it possesses a robust chemical defense mechanism: it can secrete an irritating and toxic fluid from a pair of metathoracic scent glands when threatened.

[2] Like all species of jewel bugs, C. nobilis has a brilliant metallic coloration and a greatly enlarged scutellum which forms a continuous shield over the abdomen and wings.

The exocorium of the forewings is minimally exposed proximally, and the distal tip of the hemelytral membrane is just barely visible caudally.

The plant hosts of this species include Acer oblongum, Casearia spp., Excoecaria agallocha, Gossypium hirsutum, Macaranga tanarius, Phyllanthus spp., Ricinus communis, Rhizophora spp., Santalum album, Xanthium strumarium.

[7] While the adults of this gregarious species may be found in large numbers on the leaves of any of its host species, the eggs are deposited only on the leaves of Excoecaria agallocha (commonly known as the "river poison tree", "blind-your-eye mangrove", "milky mangrove", or "buta-buta tree"), as the nymphs feed only on the seeds of this plant.

C. nobilis, like all members of the Pentatomoidea superfamily of insects, also possesses a robust chemical defense mechanism in the form of a pair of metathoracic scent glands that can produce a foul-smelling liquid.

[11][12] Like many other species of aposematic scutellerids,[10][13] C. nobilis is able to sequester chemical compounds such as these from its host plants that are toxic to their predators, and employ them in its own defenses.