I like bugs. Well, that is to say, I like looking at bugs - some bugs - especially the strange, often elaborate insects of the tropical rainforest.
We found about 16 of these critters hustling up a slim palm tree. Our local guides seemed uninterested in them, and only supplied the information that the trailing white stuff is a fungus. (It isn't).
Well, as much as I am interested in insects, I don't know anything about them really, including where to start looking on-line for identification. There are numerous sites pertaining to North American bugs, but no general info sites for anything from South America.
Finally, after a month or so of sending emails and photos off to friends and requesting help from people on-line, I came across (completely by chance) a bug blog that had a photo of 'my mystery bug' AND its name/classification. Eureka!
Introducing the Reticulated Planthopper aka Wax-tailed Hopper, scientifically known as Pterodictya reticularis
Photo by Martin Wiener |
Photo by Martin Wiener |
Common Name: Reticulated Planthopper
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Subclass: Pterygota
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Auchenorrhyncha
Family: Fulgoridae
Species: Pterodictya reticularis
Info from here: http://www.bugaddiction.com/apps/blog/show/1840174-two-awesome-insects-from-panama
and here: http://www.raywilsonbirdphotography.co.uk/Foreign%20Trips/Peru/Tambopata_insects.html
Great stuff! What a cool bug.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Harvey. I'm pleased to have this particular little mystery solved.
ReplyDeleteNow thats one cool bug!
ReplyDeleteNope nope nope!
ReplyDelete