The Keeled Treehopper: I found this insect hanging out in our tomato plants last month. There is quite a bit of misinformation about them on the web, so I took one to my biology teacher to get some questions clarified.
At first glance I was captivated by this insects bizarre appearance, but after I moved past the superficial I noticed ants crawling all over it. They didn't seem to be eating the Hopper, but obviously were quite interested in it. The answer? Keeled Treehoppers are sucking the 'juice' out of the tomato plant's phloem. If you are a gardener you know that plants are always searching for more nitrogen, so with the natural abundance of carbon found in CO2 there is going to be a high Carbon:Nitrogen ratio in the phloem. Plants, vertebrates, protists, inverts: we aren't all that different. These insects also need a good amount of nitrogen, so to get that from a plant they have to excrete all that extra carbon they are drinking. So they excrete (or secrete, but I'm not sure) a sugar (carbon based) solution. That sugar solution is what the ants are so interested in!
Why are they so 'Mitt Romney' like? Not sure, but hopefully someone will search Mitt Romney Keeled Treehopper and find our blog.
Adult stage:
Ew. If that ever showed up in my garden I would kill it.
ReplyDeletethank you for this post! i have been searching for hours to identify icky pest. (love the mitt reference too btw).
ReplyDeleteI have these Keeled Treehoppers by the thousands - they are sucking dry my beautiful tomato plants as I type. Your pictures are fantastic. How do I save myself from these pests, them and I have tarnished plant bugs too - who are attacking my gorgeous kale plants. The are sucking too it seems. OMG in the last few weeks my garden has become sucking bug infested haven. I do not mind sharing a bit but they are sucking me dry, fresh live plants becoming dead plants dried skeletons in a few weeks or days. Help. I must be one of Mitt's Victims LOL
ReplyDeleteWell well, the Mitt Romney tag really worked. With out doing any real research I can think of two solutions: one pick them off by hand. The second, they have a symbiotic relationship with a microbe that lives in their gut (the phloem of the plant doesn't provide some essential AA so they get them from their symbiont). If you used an antibiotic on the bugs it would kill the symbiont, thus killing the bug. Though, thats pretty un-organic/not food just so I can't really say I endorse this method. Let me ask one of my professors and I'll get back to you!
ReplyDelete-DC (yerbamatelover)
I've been vacuuming them off. Sounds crazy, but works
ReplyDeleteIf we're talking parasites, Moochelle Obama is more to the right tag
ReplyDelete