Tiny Leaf Hopper

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:11 pm

Image 1 – Leitz 4X Plan Fluorite, 26 images at .002 inch increments.
Image 2 – Olympus 10x S Plan Achromat, 51 images at 5 micron increments.
Live subject.

Came across this exceptionally small and cooperative leaf hopper, if that is what it is, on a weed in my backyard. Its leaves, mostly green, were stained in portions with a beautiful purple. In this color zone the hopper was well camouflaged and hardly noticeable. Even more interesting were the tiny white cups, all over the leafs underside.

Leitz Ortholux microscope
4X Leitz projection eyepiece plus 1/3x relay lens
Canon 50D
Zerene PMax stacking.
Processing in Photoshop.

Walt

Marek Mis · Post by **Marek Mis** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 6:07 am

Walter,

The first image is very, very nice !
What are these tiny white parts ?

Marek

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 7:06 am

Beautiful images Walter. I was always under the impression that bugs had to be a certain size, but that has been proven wrong. This is a very small hopper, and a couple weeks ago, I found some sub-visible spider mites in a petri dish of yard moss. But I guess the little ones have always been there, from fleas and bedbugs to stuff that may live in water and are never seen.

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:13 pm

Hi Marek, thanks. What the white things are is unknown. I was hoping someone on the forum had an idea. My best quess would be that they would be opened insect eggs of some sort, but the number of them would suggest otherwise. Maybe left overs from the leaf growth of this plant?

Thanks Mitch. I agree with you. I've see a lot of hoppers in my lifetime and they all seem to fit into two size catagories. This one breaks that mold.

Walt

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:41 pm

Really nice photography -- great colors and striking technique to stack something live under the microscope.

Walter Piorkowski wrote:What the white things are is unknown. I was hoping someone on the forum had an idea. My best quess would be that they would be opened insect eggs of some sort, but the number of them would suggest otherwise. Maybe left overs from the leaf growth of this plant?

Could be some kind of pollen, but the very uniform distribution makes me think they're part of the leaf. I'm thinking modified hairs, perhaps with expanded tops a tiny bit in the direction of parasols like those of Elaeagnus. Do they stick up from the surface any significant amount?

--Rik

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:08 pm

Hi Rik. Wims work is always amazing. The cups would extend above the leaf surface somewhat but I could not spend much time measuring. I had to work fast as the leaf was beginning to curl. It was drying and disturbing the hopper. I know this plant will reapear this summer and I'll have a crack at these features again.

Walt

macrochemistry · Post by **macrochemistry** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 5:06 pm

Wow, the first shot is great.
What is the background? Looks like many tiny daimonds.

Walter Piorkowski · Post by **Walter Piorkowski** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 9:24 pm

Hi macrochem, thanks. As the previous posts to yours discuss, I don't know what they are. You are looking at the underside of a plant leaf of a plant that I have not yet identified. What you see are actually opened semi-transpartent cup like pods attached to the leaf. We will all have to wait for this summer for me to make a better identification.
This image was shot 4 or 5 months ago. Walt