My investigation of the ecosystems on the back of various leaves is continuing. With the current lockdown, the zone I can visit tis restricted to my local area or 5 km from my home. But there is a whole world of tiny things to investigate that we usually ignore.
The one photographed above was a live bug. I had to put the leaf in the freezer for a while to reduce ist movement while I took a series of photos. Probably a psyllid.
The next photos show some moulted shells –
And this one looks dead –
I don’t know what this very tiny red bug is –
I think these are Mealybugs (a variety of scale insect) –
Here is a female scale insect, that has been inverted.
Male and female scale insects often look completely different. The female attaches itself to a leaf and then excretes a waxy covering for protection. The males only live a few days after emerging from juvenile forms. I think these are male scale insects –
