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Pink hopper juice bar

Ipoella porriginosa

Description:

A lone flushed pink hopper produces a clear droplet of nectar for two local ants.

Habitat:

On eucalyptus stem in open treelined sports field.

Notes:

Ipoella porriginosa (Signoret) - These treehoppers suck the plant juice. Within the juice, there are water and sugar - more than the leafhoppers need - so they are excreted as honeydew. The ants come for their honey dew and will protect the hoppers from other possible predators. http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Ipoella+po...

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4 Comments

AliceGreenup
AliceGreenup 11 years ago

This might be a form of mutualism, like the relationship between ants & aphids, where the ants protect the aphids in exchange for the honeydew the aphids release. Maybe the ants protect the leaf hopper in exchange for the liquid it's producing?

kittuandme
kittuandme 11 years ago

Nice pics!can u tell more about what they r doin?

Leuba Ridgway
Leuba Ridgway 11 years ago

love this spotting !

drP
drP 11 years ago

Beautiful pics!

Mark Ridgway
Spotted by
Mark Ridgway

Victoria, Australia

Spotted on Feb 25, 2013
Submitted on Feb 27, 2013

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