On my recent excursions, as well as photographing birds, I had been looking at leaves of trees and collecting interesting ones for a closer look at home. If the leaf has interesting bugs then I take series of photos with the ultra-macro lens.
In the process, I have been observing some fascinating things – small bugs and the structure they build. And it has been a real learning process as well. And this is ongoing.
First, are some of the lerps I have observed. Lerps are structures built by nymphs of insects in the family Psyllidae. The juvenile insects attach themselves to a leaf, then begin extracting nutrients from the leaf for food. They often excrete substances such as honeydew, which ants in turn eat. But some also excrete substance to form large structures which completely cover them. These “lerps” can be in variety of styles depending on the species – from a mass of fibres, a shell shaped structure or a clam shaped structure.
The lerp forming insects play a similar role to aphids, but on Eucalypts and Acacias. The lerp insects also provide a food supply for many species of birds such as Pardalotes, Noisy Miners and Lorikeets. The lerp itself is made from starch.
Here are some lerps I have recently observed –
You can see in the photo below a small yellow bug on the lower left.
Here the small yellow bug discloser to the lerp. Just above the lerp are some tiny white moulted shells and a much larger shell on the right.
Here is a closer view of the small yellow bug.
These two bugs seem to be in the process of creating lerps.
And on different leaves, I found a lot of these structures. A lerp of some type.
This one has a bug near it.
And some more –
When they get larger they develop a lattice –
And I found a few like this, with a small, perhaps earlier lerp, nearby –
On the left side of the one above is a small white object. Here is a closer cropped view –
I have no idea what it is.
Some more –
And a closer view of the structure on the right –
A different type of lerp just forming –
And it may develop into something like this –
The photo below shows a range of nymphs –
On some leaves I spotted these larger, gall like structures.
I found some more the next day. One had a hole.
An another had a small caterpillar –
So perhaps the green structures contain eggs that form caterpillars? They seem too big to be eggs.
I think these are produced by Scale Insects –
They are similar to lerps and provide protection to an insect inside that lives off the leaf.
And I food some of these small objects –
I could see movement inside the bottom one – a bug was inside.
Are they developing eggs? or structures that the insects build when they change form (like cocoons)? I am not sure. Here is another –
Now for some of the insects themselves –
The one below seems to be extruding some fibres.
This is a larger moulted shell –
And this one seems to have four eyes –
And much larger, although still quite tiny, a spider –
And a last photo showing a gooey covering. Perhaps a lerp or scale insect?
