What are these? Anyone got an idea?

[Mr. Mordax]

Here's another with wooly backside stuff:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/49602/bgimage

 

[lucanidae]

You can see its round red eyes in the first picture near the top of the head, but it has red phlanges that almost fully encircle the eyes and continue down the head. I dunno, those bristles are about as far from the picture as a plumose coremata would be. Also, it definitley appears that the structure in the picture is attempting to create a lot of surface area....definiley pheromone/chemical related. I can't think of anything else a structure like that could be used effectively for.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

I see what you mean now, with the eyes.

As for the woolly stuff, it just bears too much resemblance to some of the mealybug or scale insect structures I've seen for me to think it's part of another order. I haven't seen stuff like it anywhere else. I dunno. Maybe SeekneSs stumbled onto some undescribed species.

I should show my boss that picture when he's back in town -- he's an entomologist.

Anywho, I'm off for the evening.

 

[lucanidae]

Here's a bugguide picture of a moth with a crazy pheromone structure coming out of the abdomen:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/24143#18038

http://bugguide.net/node/view/7924

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Yeah, but the structure is vastly different from what the insect in question is (then again, so are the only Homopterans I could find). This one's going to take a while to ID successfully.

 

[froggyman]

Lantern fly? Fulgoridae sp.?

 

[bugmankeith]

I'm going to look in my magazine I know I can help once I find the article.

 

[bugmankeith]

Here's the info I found.

It's a kind of Leafhopper.

My photo appear to be an immature leafhopper.

The one in my photo was found in Belize (central america), and was a newly discovered species of leafhopper (article was in 2001 magazine)

 

[P.jasonius]

that's the best fireworks show I've ever seen!

 

[Bugs In Cyberspace]

I'm goin' planthopper on this one

Looks like a planthopper in the Order Homoptera. I think I read somewhere that those tail-like structures are caused by the waxy by-products of their consumption of plant juices. Likely some defensive benefit of having them as well.

 

[AlanMM]

Thanks for the Id and fot the lookup.

Here i give u the original size pictures where u can see more of the head and behind in detail.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Yep. No question about that being a homoptera, after that face-shot.

 

[lucanidae]

Agreed, now who can get it to genus...?

 

[bugmankeith]

Does anyone know if the insect I posted is the same as the one Seekness found?

 

[Mr. Mordax]

From the magazine? I don't think so. Same order, yes, but the filament structure is too dissimilar for them to be the same genus or species (family is a possibility though).

 

[kahoy]

newly dicovered specie?

 

[lucanidae]

Everything in the tropics is a newly discovered species! A group from Berkely just went and fogged a tree in Chile and found 100 new GENERA of beetles.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Everything in the tropics is a newly discovered species! A group from Berkely just went and fogged a tree in Chile and found 100 new GENERA of beetles.

Holy explative! That is freakishly amazing. That's one of the reasons I wanted to get into entomology . . . but OSU closed the department just over a year before I got here (naughty words!).

 

[kahoy]

Holy explative! That is freakishly amazing. That's one of the reasons I wanted to get into entomology . . . but OSU closed the department just over a year before I got here (naughty words!).

i also wanted to get into entomology or scorpionology, unfortunately i still need to study for 5+ years before getting my feet on one of their offices.

btw. i prefer fieldwork than officework. LOL!!!

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Haha! I work for an entomologist, and I'm usually in the lab. When we do go out and do field work, we drive to vineyards and collect leaves and shoots.

Although, at the end of my first week, the vintner gave us each a free bottle of wine!