leafhopper emmiting flash of light?

Monroe, MI

i was out checking over my sunflowers the other day when i came across a very small very colorful insect...after doing my home work i discovered he was a red and blue leafhopper, i was checking him out very closley and shot a couple photo's of him...my question is on his rear he has a little red stick like thing sticking out, well while i was observing him, this thing flashed, the thing on his rear, it flashed a bright red, light like a lightning bug, being the insect was so small it was a small flash but it was very bright for his size, i tried to capture a photo of him doing this but was unsuccessful, my camera disturbed him, i was in disbelief but my boyfriend stared at him for awhile and it flashed for him too, so he comfirmed that i was not crazy and just seeing things...i have looked all over the internet on these insects and for the life of me nothing that i can find mentions anything of this..i am wondering if i stumbled upon something that no one else has or is it so miniscule that it does not even deserve mentioning from an insect of this size....if anyone can help me and give me more info on the flashing that a leafhopper emits that would be great!! i am going to try attaching a couple photo's of him and in one you can see the light emmiting organ that i am talking about..thankyou so much in advance for any info!!!

Thumbnail by twiggy2151
Churchill, Victoria, Australia(Zone 10a)

twiggy1,
that is a fascinating observation. I have not heard of it before. It would be good if you could add your information (and your images) to our page for that bug here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/114/

This forum is not the best place to seek response from other insect watchers. We have a forum on Bug and Insect Identification here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/bugid/all/
and if you post your question there, you may get some useful replies. You can also post your images to that forum,

Kennedy

Post a Reply to this Thread

Please or register to post.

Upload Images to your reply

    You may upload up to 5 images
    BACK TO TOP