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Keeled Treehoppers & Wasp Parasites

Antianthe expansa

Description:

These 3 brownish-green Treehopper females were busy scrapping the top layer off of a stem to lay their eggs. Amazingly, there was a little army of parasitic wasps all around them waiting to parasitize the eggs! The poor leaf-hoppers couldn't do anything about them and must have known they were there. They were also feeding and egg-laying on a Nightshade (Solanaceae). I rarely see anything on a nightshade plant. First instar nymphs and some older instar nymphs were also nearby (last 2 pictures). Family Membracidae, Subfamily Smiliinae.

Habitat:

Forested area with houses on the outskirts of San Cristobal de Las Casas, 2,200 meters.

Notes:

The specimens of Antianthe in this link from Nicaragua, were also feeding on Nightshade: http://www.americaninsects.net/h/antiant.... See a more recent spotting of this species in Chiapas: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/202....

1 Species ID Suggestions

JasonCryan
JasonCryan 10 years ago
treehopper
Antianthe sp.


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6 Comments

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 10 years ago

Thank you Jason for the identification and your comments. :)

JasonCryan
JasonCryan 10 years ago

beautiful treehopper pics, Lauren...and excellent natural history observations!! Keep it up!!! This is the genus Antianthe, but I don't know about the species....

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 10 years ago

Thank you Jellyfishnebula :)

Jellyfishnebula
Jellyfishnebula 10 years ago

Cool!

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 10 years ago

Thank you Lenny. :)

LennyWorthington
LennyWorthington 10 years ago

Excellent series.

LaurenZarate
Spotted by
LaurenZarate

Chiapas, Mexico

Spotted on Apr 24, 2013
Submitted on Apr 29, 2013

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