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Blog Archives
Mating Treehoppers
~4mm body | September 29, 2012 | Roswell, Ga, USA
These mating treehoppers (Acutalis brunnea) picked a good place to get together, at least from a photographer’s perspective. I like the composition of this full frame image, but there’s so many different ways I could crop it.
Here’s a closer look at the pair.
Cropped view
I’ve stared at the full size image, but I can’t decide which one is male and which one is female.
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Yellow/Black Treehoppers with Ants
~5mm | January 7, 2012 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Here’s yet a different species of colorful treehopper. These too were found in association with ants.
A busy photo, but packed with natural history.
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Ants Tending Treehoppers, Poorly Perhaps
~3mm | January 7, 2012 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I had planned to post just a single photo of this scene with ants tending treehoppers. Here we see at least two different colorful treehopper instars, with one actively molting. Ants like the one shown above tended to this small grouping of treehoppers. As I was choosing a photo to post, I noticed something strange about the treehoppers though. Do you see it too?
Look closely and you’ll see that a few nymphs have parasites. I wasn’t sure at first, so I started looking through my other photos. Sure enough, almost every one had one or more parasites. The parasites seem to prefer hiding under the wing pads and below the thorax.
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Membracis Treehoppers and Nymphs
~10mm | January 7, 2012 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil
When I spotted a group of treehoppers like the one above, I settled in for a while. With such a beautiful subject, I was determined to get some good photos. The shot above is probably my favorite out of around 300 or so shots. I struggled to get something in the background to avoid the usual black background that usually happens with macro flash photos. A black background wasn’t going to serve very well for these mostly black treehoppers.
Not only are the adults pretty, but the nymphs are also attractive in their own way. I prefer the black background here.
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Dictyopharid Planthopper with Dryinid Wasp Parasite
~20mm | January 7, 2012 | Tupaciguara, Minas Gerais, Brazil
When I encountered the planthopper above, I had no idea what was going on. While not entirely sure, I assumed that might be a parasite on its abdomen. I had wanted to get a closeup of just the parasite, but when I went to grab the planthopper, it jumped and flew away with little difficulty. The parasite must not have been as much of a hindrance as it would appear.
Here’s a crop of the image above showing the parasite.
Closeup of parasite
It didn’t take much searching on the internet to determine that this must be the larva of a wasp in the family Dryinidae. There are plenty of images of larvae on BugGuide. According to Wikipedia, a larva initially feeds internally on the host. Only later in its development does it protrude the host as shown here.
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Thread-legged Bug with Spider Prey
30mm long | December 30, 2011 | Quirinópolis, Goiás, Brazil
This thread-legged bug appears to be hanging in mid-air, but in fact it has delicately balanced itself on a spider web. Its beak holds a small spider that it must have just plucked from the center of the web.
Some thread-legged specialize in spiders, and I wonder if this might be one of them. Some are even known to lure the spider by plucking at the web like captured prey might.
Another view
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A Couple of Dictyopharid Planthoppers
10mm long | December 30, 2011 | Quirinópolis, Goiás, Brazil
These dictyopharid planthoppers are a nice addition to my virtual collection.
It took many attempts before I got this shot where both planthoppers were in the plane of focus. That’s sometimes difficult enough with small subjects, but even more so when they are above your head. I convinced myself the Canon 60D’s flip-out view screen with live view would come in handy for situations like this. Shots like these that I’d otherwise have missed make me feel better about the expenditure.
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Shield Bug, Taking Flight
22mm long | July 8, 2011 | Victorio Siqueroli Park, Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil
This shield bug caught caught my eye mostly based on its relatively large size. What made the pursuit worthwhile though was accidentally catching it as it took flight. I enjoy getting to see some parts of the anatomy that are generally hidden.
Wings outstretched
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Scale Insects
5mm long | July 8, 2011 | Victorio Siqueroli Park, Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil
I probably wouldn’t have noticed these scale insects were it not for the ants that would occasionally stop to feed from them.
Its difficult to see in the first photo, but each one has 20 or so waxy threads spiraling away from the body. It’s not clear to me where exactly they’re coming from. The threads are a bit easier to see in the next few photos.
Waxy corkscrew shaped filaments radiate out from the body
I wonder if the spirals don’t help the ants to locate the scale.
The scales excrete honeydew from a small orange tube (to the left above, right below).
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Assassin Bug
July 8, 2011 | Victorio Siqueroli Park, Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil
This assassin bug mimics a bee quite well. It even seems to have pollen baskets on its hind legs.
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