The talented nature photographer named Andreas Kay passed away in 2019, but not before he captured something intriguing and fascinating on video. The creature that Kay recorded appears to be a piece of walking popcorn, or perhaps a clump of snow. Nevertheless, it’s neither one of those things. The little bug is a flatid planthopper nymph. That’s a fancy name for a walking piece of popcorn, isn’t it? The little insect lives in the Amazon Rainforest and the substance that appears to be popcorn is actually wax. The little bug secrets a waxy substance that allows it to hide from predators.
The nymphs eat by inserting their tiny little beaks into the vascular systems of plants and sucking out the sap that’s rich in nutrients. They do this by using a sort of natural hydraulic pump that they have inside of their heads. A byproduct of their food is something known as honeydew (not the melon). Honeydew tends to attract other bugs like wasps and ants, and that’s part of the problem. So to protect themselves, the nymphs have evolved to produce this pure white was from the glands that form the lining of their abdomen. The was thereby serves as protection from vicious wasps.
Well, we want a planthopper nymph as a pet now https://t.co/CQEgETXH8r #JohnBrownNovus @BoingBoing
— John Brown Novus (@JohnBrownNovus) December 2, 2020
What the wasps do is sting the nymphs to insert their eggs into the bodies of the little bugs. With the wax, they’re able to confuse other predators like lacewings and ladybugs who might want to eat them. However, the wax substance protects these cute little guys from lots of bug neighbors who would like to harm them for one reason or another. Nymphs are hatched from eggs that are inserted into the plant stems a few months previously by an adult planthopper nymph.
A Tiny Flatid Planthopper Nymph Insect That Looks Like a Walking Piece of Popcorn https://t.co/0PsTqQiGz8
— Laughing Squid (@LaughingSquid) December 2, 2020
Once they’re grown, the adults don’t make as much wax as they did when they were little ones. That’s OK because by then they’re well-coated and that helps them glide along on plants. Watch the video below. It’s fascinating!
Here’s another video of these cute little creatures.
