Derbid Planthopper

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

An adult planthopper from the bug family Derbidae feeding on plant sap, using its mouthparts to pierce a leaf vein. This was photographed at Karnala just after the start of the monsoon. There were more than 70 of these on this particular shrub (haven't got the ID), on the leaves as well as on the stem. The body (adult) is about 5-6mm long.

Wish I could have had a more rectangular frame, but had to crop it to a square to remove some distractions. Photographed at near 1:1. The legs and mouthparts are slightly shadowed due to the built-in flash not reaching completely below the leaf. :(

Canon 500D, Canon 100mm Macro USM
Aperture-Priority AE
Tv 1/125
Av 6.3
EC -2/3
ISO 1600
Flash On
Cropped. Processed in LR3.

Thanks, C&C awaited.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Interesting. Difficult composition as the wings are crossing the lines (veins). This image is representative of the behaviour though. I would love to see one image where the camera is directly infront of the head with wings on the top. I am wondering how it would have looked with a magnification higher than 1:1. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Good details. It is really good that you observed and photographed this. They have very odd looking wings, first I couldn't make out if those were the wings. Thanks for sharing the information. Look forward to more from the macro world.

[Bhargava Srivari]

I actually mistook the wings for antennae:D

Nice one Ahishek....but was it possible to use a narrower aperture here? The shutter speed's 1/125sec, so the lens can be handled even at much lower shutter speeds as it doesn't weigh too much:)

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Bhargava, i had not intended to get the wings in focus for this image. However, i agree i could have tried a narrower aperture as well...