Metallic rover beetle - defensive pose, La Isla Escondida, Colombia

Plochionocerus sp. We found this very shiny blue rover beetle running on the forest floor. We closed it in from multiple angles but it would not stop moving. Ultimately we managed to get it onto a leaf where it engaged in a strange defensive position where it folds it body. We thought that perhaps we have accidentally hurt it, but there's lots of reference images of this position, so it seems like a normal pose. I'm also including a dramatized edit in the series :)