A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Family Clastopteridae : Machaerotinae
A small mass of brown upside down horn-shaped structures with wide open ends, stuck to the branchlet of a gum tree. Each of these tubes would have been about 12 to 15mm long. These tubes had rough surfaces and resembled bark. Some of the tubes were filled with liquid.
Eucalyptus trees. This one was spotted on a young swamp gum ( E.ovata)
These are calcareous tubes built by nymphs of the tube spittlebugs. They use these tubes as shelter. An expanded plate on the abdomen is used as a door to close the opening of the tube. For more information, please read on.. http://www1.dpi.nsw.gov.au/keys/cercopid... The other type of spittlebugs use foam-like spittle as shelter from predators.
Spotted on Sep 4, 2012
Submitted on Sep 4, 2012
3 Comments
Thanks Martin. I just got to see you spottting -they are great photos and the tubes & bug are so interesting. I am not surprised that the tubes are made to resemble the structures to which they are attached.
Excellent information there Leuba. I found some of the green bugs last season. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/896...
Cool spotting.