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Project Noah Nature School
Flatidae
early instar - small, white insect,long filament like tails, there were a bunch of these congregating on a small bush.
tropical rainforest along a river
I spotted a whole bush covered with these interesting insects. I saw them in tropical rainforest near a banana plantation during a 4 day trek near the Myanmar border.
Thanks Sinobug for all the great info and ID. I'm on the road now but will have a look at your Flickr to see if I can find any more ID's for my unknown insects in Asia. Thank you Chief as well.
The name white aphids is deceptive as aphids, although the same order of insects (Hemiptera) are something else completely different. This is the nymphal form of a plant hopper.
The waxy filaments on the hind end of Flatid plant hoppers serve several purposes. They are hydrophobic and help conceal the insect’s body. They can be raised and lowered and fanned out and in my observation are used as a challenge or a means of communication between individuals when they encounter each other away from the group. Probably most importantly though, they are detachable, so if a hungry predator makes a grab for the nymph, they end up with a claw or mouthful of wax, allowing the nymph to escape.
Although this image is of an individual (they certainly take short forays out into the world away from their siblings), this species remains as a tight group numbering in the hundreds throughout their development.
What a fascinating looking bug. Following the thread of what it could be is just as interesting. Nice photos, the third one doesn't show up for me, could you re-load it?
So what should I ID it as? White aphids, with just the family as the scientific name? Since we are not sure of genus or species.
This is nice learning lesson. You have made Project Noah more precious..!!
agree with Cindy its called White Aphids, the nymph stage of Plant hoppers. They mostly considered as pest to flowering herb and shrub plants.
@dandoucette--very cool spotting in that link as well! I have never seen anything like it.
@bayucca...LOL...yes, it is dental floss that has been used too much I do say....LOL
@apple: It looks like you need a little update in the use of dental floss ;-)... But the compare is very funny, indeed!
@Apple, it does look like dental floss. It also reminds me of the link you provided, I also saw a very similar planthopper in Guyana.
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/577...
This one was much small than both of those.
There are Leafhopper nymphs with antennae. This has the typical wax coating too. Hmmm
Thanks rhiannon. @ Leuba - Thanks, I think it could be a leaf hopper nymph, though it's not too similar to your spotting. I've seen similar insects and I think that's what they were.
Hi dandoucette, It could be a nymph of another insect ( a hopper). See if it's anything like this:
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/837...
Spotted on Dec 22, 2011
Submitted on Jan 31, 2012
