Palm Derbid

Description:

Hemiptera; Derbidae; Proutista moesta (Westwood, 1896). This species is a Planthopper which, according to Wikipedia and the Government of New South Wales website, is a pest of various Palms including Coconut, Oil Palms and Bananas. This information is particularly useful to me in regard to this spotting because it makes perfect sense of the presence of this Planthopper at the moment when I saw it. Please look at the Habitat section.

Habitat:

I spotted this insect in our backyard on unidentified foliage, just beside some workers who were busy cutting down some old (and therefore unproductive) Banana Plants.

Notes:

I went out to our backyard to check on the progress of the cutting down of old banana plants and while I was there, I saw this strange (and beautiful) little Planthopper on some foliage. I had no idea what kind of insect it was and, therefore, could not possibly have guessed that it was very likely to be on the nearby foliage because it had just escaped from the destruction of its habitat, the banana plants. If I had known that this was a planthopper which was a pest of bananas, everything would have fallen into place very nicely. I wish to express my gratitude to Ranger Mark Ridgeway who sent me a helpful comment, immediately followed by a Species Suggestion which made everything fit together so well. By the way, the Proutista moesta will have no problem in finding a new home. There are many banana plants in our backyard and it is welcome to a little sip of banana sap from time to time. The link in Mark's I.D. Suggestion does not show correctly in my References, but it is O.K. here - https://idtools.dpi.nsw.gov.au/keys/cica...