Conehead

Does this count as pink? It certainly looked like a field of pink flowers as I was freewheeling past yesterday, already planning my next blip with the possibility of being without wheels. My color perception is bad to say the least, they are probably more like lilac. I am going to tag for the breast cancer month challenge anyway, as it is the thought that counts.

This is in fact a field that I have blipped in the past and I tagged it 'the plantation'. A year ago it was blooming with swan plants which attracted herds of common tiger butterflies, a close relation to the monarch of the western world. Only the monarch is capable of feeding on this plant as it is poisonous to other caterpillars. The monarch caterpillar puts the poisons to work and makes itself unpalatable to the birds, a good defense strategy.

Today the field was bare, in between crops I suspect, but a few patches of pink/lilac and some daisy type white flowers. I crept around and found a few tiger butterflies and a few dragons, but nothing was lighting my fire. Then I spotted this huge 3" long conehead hopper as it narrowly avoided my size ten flip-flop by taking flight.

This is actually my favorite of the hoppers, even though there are more colorful and unusual designs around. I think it goes back to my childhood, when this species was used as a pattern for a cartoon character in one of my books. It is a strange looking creature with its long neck. Its mouth is at the bottom of the neck and you can just see it in this image.

It is not a brilliant flyer but it does have three ocelli, one each side, just above the compound eye and one in the middle of the throat, about level with the bottom of the compound eye. You can just about make them out if you go large.

On its left antenna is a small red dot, this is a tick that hoppers tend to suffer from. I have seen hoppers covered in thirty or more of these ticks.

They tend to hang around the low grasses and shrubs and with their perfect camouflage, are extremely difficult to see. Even when you see them land, as soon as they hit the grass, they vanish. If you keep sight of one and take your eye off it to check your settings, it vanishes.

I pulled a plan together and chased it into the pink/lilac flowers with my monopod. A bit of shuffling around and I got the shot that I wanted. Hope you like it.

Dave