Saturday, June 05, 2010

Black Leaf-Leg Phylloscelis atra

This isn't a beetle but it would fool anyone into thinking it was. This is a planthopper a beetle. And according to Andy Hamilton they live together with leaf beetles ( Cryptocephalus sp. ).

I have no idea why. What benefit would they get from living together?

I know that certain species of leaf beetles have toxic properties but the ones these are living with are found on wild mint and to my knowledge wild mint doesn't have any toxic properties that I know of. Unless of course I'm missing something?

And if I am what? This is mind boggling because I can't find anything else on them other then what Andy says and the general info from Bugguide.

So this is indeed very interesting....I want to know more naturally.

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