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(Eclosing) Glassy-winged Sharpshooter

Homalodisca vitripennis

Description:

This is a Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter emerging from it's last instar into adulthood. This species excretes a liquid while it feeds, shooting it out onto leaves. When I approach the adults, they spray it right at me! It's a good defense. If that doesn't deter a threat, they fly away with their glassy-looking wings. The video shows the sharpshooter halfway emerged to all the way out. There are still shots as well. I have the fourth or fifth instar spotting at: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/728.... The adult spotting at: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/719...

Habitat:

It was on a Perez's Sea Lavender plant early on a foggy morning.

Notes:

There are tons of these in our yard. They prefer areas around the Creeping Lantana. They're native to northeastern Mexico and spread into the United States, where it's an agricultural pest! This insect "is a vector of several plant diseases including phony peach disease, Pierce's disease of grape and Oleander leaf scorch." - nathistoc.bio.uci.edu. I shot this with my compact Canon PowerShot G12 using the scene mode of Kids & Pets and manual focus.

No species ID suggestions

23 Comments

Thanks. Timing was definitely on my side this day!

RachaelB
RachaelB a year ago

Great timing!

Thank you :) This is one of my favorite hopper spottings but any creature emerging is beautiful to watch!

achmmad
achmmad a year ago

Can't say anything!

Thank you Carol! They're so cool looking with their see-through wings and colors. The gross part is they actually squirt urine at you. LOL The video shows it.

CarolSnowMilne
CarolSnowMilne a year ago

I looked it up. A leaf hopper! It is beautiful!

CarolSnowMilne
CarolSnowMilne a year ago

WOW! Never seen anything like it before. Never heard of this one. A Hopper? What kind.

Thank you KarenP! Sorry my notification was turned off for a while :)

KarenP
KarenP a year ago

Very cool series. Thanks for posting. I've never seen anything like it!!

Thank you! The sharpshooter was still on the same plant today, all grown up :)

Longmustache
Longmustache a year ago

Wow! That's a precious video! Thanks for sharing.

LindaGuastamachio
LindaGuastamachio a year ago

Anita, my exact thoughts!

anita.luciano
anita.luciano a year ago

wow, that's so cool!

KarenL
KarenL a year ago

Fantastic series!

It was amazing to watch in person. I kept thinking how much I really wanted at least a monopod to capture it better :) I know these are pests but it's still amazing to watch renewed life.

textless
textless a year ago

Amazing moment and wonderful photos/video. Wow!

Hemma
Hemma a year ago

Very cute!! Very educational too.!! it must have been quite a moment for you as is for the newly emerged insect!

Thank you :) It was a good spotting day!

Ava T-B
Ava T-B a year ago

Terrific series of photos and video!

LarsKorb
LarsKorb a year ago

fantastic job - great series

ceherzog
ceherzog a year ago

Outstanding find...great series & video...I love it.

Thank you misako.hill :) I was lucky to find this as it was emerging!

misako
misako a year ago

Cool video!

San Diego, California, USA

Lat: 33.15, Long: -117.01

Spotted on Sep 20, 2011
Submitted on Sep 20, 2011

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