Tylopelta gibbera, f, face
Tylopelta gibbera, f, face
Tylopelta gibbera, a wee, brown, spec-like, treehopper. This species runs from Central America north where it quietly sips sap from the tick-trefoil plant group. These specimens came from the Sarah Kocher lab at Princeton, where they were imprisoned in small net cages in greenhouses while Sarah and her white-coated lab staff use lasers to listen in on treehopper sex talk; where competing males shout to females by drumming on the plants making tiny vibes that, if played correctly, are aphrodesial to any female in the area. They are using the treehopper's molecules to deconstruct why, where, and how these sexy vibrations vary across the landscape. Who knew. Both 10x and 5x shots involved.
Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all
Ye know on earth and all ye need to know
" Ode on a Grecian Urn"
John Keats. Original public domain image from Flickr