Fluffy white insect, Borneo
Hi.
Discovered this fantastic, fluffy little beauty in an area of primary/secondary rainforest and I’m at a loss as to what it could be. It was 1 inch in length, 6 visible legs and when handled, it would occasionally jump 12 inches to a higher object. It was quite a tedious exercise just to get the picture you see now, as it refused to stop moving. This was one of the better photos, I have a few more and some short video footage. Would be great to finally put a name to it, being my second encounter in the last 4 years, this seems quite a rarity! Best regards.
Chris Martin
Malaysian Borneo
Hi Chris,
This is some species of tropical Plant Hopper. We will try to contact Andy Hamilton, a recent contributor to our site who specializes in tropical Homopterans.
Dear Bugman,
…I am NOT an expert on tropical insects, so I have sent the message on to someone who knows the tropical planthoppers. [Whatever] she says … I for one will believe her.
Andy
[Her] assessment is “My best guess would be a flatid … [they are sometimes] … just wax all over, although I have never seen a leg sticking out like this.” Flatidae are planthoppers with very wide front wings, and are sometimes called “moth bugs.” You will find lots of pictures of North American flatid nymphs on BugGuide.net
Andy