Florida Leaf-legged Insects!
Hello Insect Photography Fans!
This time I want to show one type of insect with a hard skin and body like a robot, that's what I think. :)
I photographed this type of insect in the low bushes on the side of the path a little far from where I live in Aceh. However, I often come to this place just to refresh my body in the afternoon after doing various activities as I should do. It has become a habit for me that in the afternoon doing jogging while photography are two things that are equally important to me.
As the saying goes:
"Once to take the oar, two or three islands crossed."
It means:
One time doing the work, get multiple results at once.
As reference material about the insect, I googled to find the name of this animal.Here
I've seen this hard-skinned insect before. This type of insect likes to stick to plants and likes to damage plants. But what I photographed, they were perched on a bush by the side of the road. These insects are considered as pests by farmers because they feed on and cause damage to crops be it soft or hard crops.
If we look at the picture I share, this insect has lower hind legs that are wider than their upper legs and their legs have sharp teeth based on what I observed when photographing the insect. In addition, we can also see that this insect has long, slender, curved antennae with a distinctive orange tip and its body has a reddish-brown color to close to black or blackish in color.
When I showed a picture of this insect to my older brother, He called this insect the Leaf-footed Ladybug.
Based on one source on the internet that describes this insect, explains:
Adult leaf-leg ladybugs are dark brown to black, 20 mm long, flat wings and straight back when closing, antennae consisting of 4 segments, having a rostrum consisting of 4 segments, males having enlarged legs and flattened, the calf (tibia) of the hind legs spread like leaves, the forewings like skin, having a pattern such as straight lines, zig-zag lines, or a series of white or pale yellow spots. L. gonagra has a chest (thorax) with a yellow border and yellow longitudinal stripes on the lower surface of the abdomen (abdomen). L. phyllopus has forewings with straight white lines on the surface of the forewings when closed, the upper surface of the abdomen has a variation of orange color when the wings are open. L. australis has a reddish-orange or yellow curved line on the front of the pronotum, the body is elongated, the head is shorter and narrower than the pronotum. L. zonatus has a large pale yellow spot on the upper part of the two middle segments of the pronotum, the body is wide, there is a zigzag pattern on the surface of the forewings when the wings close. Nymphs consist of 5 instars, shape like adults, but without leaf legs. Nymphs of L. gonagra are bright red with black legs in the first to third instars, dirty brown in the fourth and fifth instars. L. phyllopus nymphs are reddish in color with black legs for all instars. L. australis nymphs are reddish in the early instars, leaf legs develop from the third instar, the fourth instar has yellow and black spots, and the fifth instar is dark brown or black. Nymphs of L. zonatus are red with black legs for all instars. The eggs are slightly cylindrical. The eggs of L. gonagra are 1.4 mm long, at first bright green, then brown. L. phyllopus eggs are 1.8 mm long, golden brown. L. australis eggs are 1.8 mm long, pale brown in color. The eggs of L. zonatus are 1.47 mm long, first bright green, then brown.
Back to the explanation based on my observations, I saw the leaves withered, dried up, and died due to this insect attack as shown in the picture I shared. But again, if what is attacked by this insect is an attack on plants in the form of young fruits, it will cause the fruit to fall or change shape. If the attack on the old fruit causes the skin to be blotchy and the flesh to dry out. This type of insect is very troubling to farmers indeed.
Leaf-footed ladybugs spread actively at close range by creeping and flying and passively over long distances by means of seeds and fruit. Therefore, usually the control of leaf-footed ladybugs is done by cultivation and chemically.
Cultural control is carried out by not planting other host plants together with citrus, planting the most preferred host plants as trap plants, and rotating crops if other citrus plantations are planted at the location.
Chemical control is done by using insecticides to control the types of ladybugs and other insect pests.
With this post made based on my observations when photographing it and some additional information that I quoted on the internet to complete this post.
Thank you for everything, keep your health as one of the capitals of life.
Much Love,
Seha76!