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Eurymeloides punctata
Small eurymelid hoppers; about 10mm long; the final form is lower and the two banded ones nearer the ant are earlier stages. One younger at the top one has produced some 'nectar' from it's abdomen to encourage the ant (possibly Camponotus nigriceps) to hang around for protection. Does it have some chemical messenger as well as the sugar ?
Eucalyptus stems and leaves. Local wetland reserve.
Family Cicadellidae, Eurymelinae, Eurymelini
These are difficult to link through the various moults so I am capturing shots with mixed instars.
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:b...
3 Comments
Thanks MacChristiansen and S Frazier... Good question Scott - I've been wondering the same. From memory I think they interact often between adult and earlier forms but could be wrong. I guess you'd really need to watch them full time possibly for weeks :-( maybe moults happen incredibly frequently? maybe there are some inate grouping tendencies keeping them on the same stems?... Most clusters are mixed but sometimes it is just one instar... so many questions ! Do you think I should take it out of 'invert brooders' mission until the science is done?.... just had another thought... the adults hang around the youngsters because they have lost their nectar-making talent... %#!-
This is a great spotting! Does the presence of mixed instars imply some other kind of shared care or is it indeed direct parental care?
Great pics Argy