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Golden eucalyptus lerps

Creiis longipennis

Description:

Tiny houses made from a sugary substance and covered with golden floss. The animal that lives here is a plant sucking bug called a psyllid.
The dome has a fine diagonal woven texture and the largest ones were about 6mm across. The creature itself was nymphal, shades of yellow with a soft, ribbed body, a couple of spots on either side, and a yellow mouth tube.

Habitat:

On older leaves of a eucalyptus in a local nature reserve.

Notes:

The name 'lerp' comes from the aboriginal word 'larp' Dense colonies create thick encrustations and were often collected for food.
I lifted one side of this lerp trying not to damage it and, being a sugary, mix I was able to moisten the raised edge and 'glue' it back to the leaf. I think it worked well. I haven't seen these golden coloured ones before and wonder about the fact that the creature is a similar colour. I also considered the fact that often we find just the domes with no floss on top and maybe the floss is highly vulnerable to dissolving in a light rain or even overnight dew. Based on this idea I suspect these might be very fresh ones.
Like miniature cicadas these creatures create unique micro-sounds...
http://www.psyllids.org/CardiaspinaSOUND...
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:b... Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Sternorrhyncha
Superfamily: Psylloidea
Family: Aphalaridae
Subfamily: Spondyliaspidinae

Check out the likely adult here https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/74...

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52 Comments (1–25)

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

Thanks Arya.

Arya
Arya 10 years ago

Congrats Mark, animal architecture is amazing!

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

Thanks Shanna, sintija and Maria !!

Maria dB
Maria dB 10 years ago

This is a marvelous spotting - congratulations!

Sintija Valucka
Sintija Valucka 10 years ago

Amazing spotting!!! :)

ShannaB
ShannaB 10 years ago

This is a stunning shot, Argy. Congrats.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

Thank you all so much. Glad you enjoyed it.

AshleyT
AshleyT 10 years ago

Congrats Mark, such an interesting design!

Argy,this artist :-) turn him self famous,a golden series ,congrats again on the SOTD

sarah in the woods
sarah in the woods 10 years ago

Amazing color and design. It looks fluorescent! I love the floss on top. This is definitely inspiring. Excellent capture and congrats on the SOTD.

Sergio Monteiro
Sergio Monteiro 10 years ago

Congratulations, Mark. Absolutely deserved.

A well deserve SOTD, congratulations, Mark Ridgway.

Tom15
Tom15 10 years ago

Congrats Mark on this very interesting SOTD!

Bhagya Herath
Bhagya Herath 10 years ago

Congratulations dear Mark..... and thanks for sharing this super spotting...

srimanta
srimanta 10 years ago

excellent spotting......regards..... :)Sri

KarenL
KarenL 10 years ago

Wow! Truly spectacular Mark!
Congratulations on a well-deserved spotting of the day!

surekha
surekha 10 years ago

Congratulations on this wondrous spotting, Mark!

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

Than you RiekoS

RiekoS
RiekoS 10 years ago

Congratulations and thank you so much for sharing such beautiful and wonderful spotting. It really is amazing about our nature.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

I'll sleep with my bike helmet on then.

Sckel
Sckel 10 years ago

Congratulations Mark. You raised the hideout of the small insect, leaving him naked. I think it will take revenge. Prepare yourself.

Mark Ridgway
Mark Ridgway 10 years ago

Thanks Shekainah, Neil, Lauren. You're right Neil. Leuba and I often discuss how nature makes human fashions seem so ordinary.

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 10 years ago

Very neat spotting Mark and great information! So elaborate a structure.

Neil Ross
Neil Ross 10 years ago

Now that is quite spectacular. Wouldn't be surprised if some young milliner fashioned something like this for someone's head at the next Melbourne Cup.

shekainah d. alaban
shekainah d. alaban 10 years ago

Congratulations Mark, what a sweet spotting.

Mark Ridgway
Spotted by
Mark Ridgway

The Basin, Victoria, Australia

Spotted on Jan 11, 2014
Submitted on Jan 11, 2014

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