Bizarre Tree-Hopper Insect Feeds Upon Sap From Leaf

Bugs may be nasty, but how can someone call a butterfly “nasty”? They are these delicate, frail creatures that are ever so graceful, making the world a better place with their iridescent existence.

In this situation we have this little bug that is just relaxing on a top of a leaf. Now, we can all agree he looks kind of creepy and somewhat scary and a bit disgusting. But if for a moment we take a closer look we see that there is beauty in everything. This little insect has everything, starting from eyes, to a little mouth and even some scary grapples on top of his head that probably help him hunt.

This tree hopper from the Amazon rain forest of Ecuador is an insect related to cicadas and leaf hoppers. Most tree hoppers have a highly modified pronotum on the back, in this case forming several hollow spines, which make it unpalatable for potential predators and thereby give it an advantage in the struggle for survival. Tree hoppers feed on plant sap which is rich in sugar. In this video the sucking mouth parts of the tree hopper have penetrated the vein of a leaf.

In this case, this little guy looks like he is feeding for the last time. Since At the end of the video he is upside down leading us to believe that he has arrived to the end of his days. However, this close footage of its last moments are incredible.

At the end of the day, would you dare to get this close to such creepy insect!