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Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Hungry for a snack? Try a lerp! Lerps are structures made out of crystallized honeydew which are formed by the larvae of jumping plant lice, of which over 300 species are found in Australia. The word comes from the Aboriginal Wemba Wemba word lerep, and lerps are a popular food for Abogirinal people across the continent.

(Image: A species of sugar lerp (Glycaspis sp.) hiding under its sweet shell by Otto Rogge)

#jumping plant lice #psyllids #Hemiptera #Psyllidae #true bugs #insects #arthropods #uncharismatic facts

One of three pun drawings I did for a biology magazine!! Featuring a Psylla alni -jumping plant louse.

This joke doesn't really work in English, but allow me to try to explain anyway: "Suu seitsemäntenä jalkana" means "Mouth as (one's) seventh leg". It is a version of the saying "pää kolmantena jalkana", literally translated as "head as (one's) third leg". It is basically like another version of "head over heels", meant to convey the idea that someone is in such a great hurry that they're stumbling over themselves, so much so that they are already landing on their head, using it as another running limb one could say. Jumping plant lice have their proboscis behind their head, in between their front legs, making the proboscis itself look like a leg. Therefore, it would not be strange to say that if a jumping plant louse were in a hurry, it would likely stumble all over itself, using its proboscis as a seventh leg even in a desperate attempt to propel forwards. Its mouth as its seventh leg!

#kind of a niche insect but a cool one in any case <3 #art #my art #jumping plant lice #jumping plant louse #psyllid #psyllids

Some more cool critters - a Cardiaspina sp. psyllid within it's beautiful little lerp cage, and a very polite Dotted Paropsine Leaf Beetle, Paropsis atomaria which is a fave of my girlfriend's. <3

Victoria, Australia.

#insects #cardiaspina #paropsis #paropsis atomaria #psyllids #chrysomelidae #leaf beetles #beetle #coleoptera #hemiptera #bugblr

#3213 - Fam. Triozidae

An undescribed genus, associated with Casuarina and Allocasuarina. Since this wall was underneath some she-oaks, and had dozens if not hundreds of these psylloids on it, I think that's a safe bet about foodplant.

The Triozidae used to be considered part of the Psyllidae, but recent taxonomy work has greatly re-organised these small plant-sucking insects. Some are serious plant pests.

Meadow Springs, Perth.

#Triozidae #jumping plant lice #psyllids #psylloids #undescribed species #perth