I was surprised to spot this little Issus coleoptratus nymph today, out and about on the honeysuckle by the garage. As far as I knew until now, our entire garden colony of this planthopper lived in the ivy on our side fence, about fifty metres away, and they all spent as much time as they possibly could hidden away in the depths of the plant. Previously I’ve only ever found them when I was beating the ivy, and I’ve had to work fast – potting them, moving them somewhere with more light, unpotting them, rattling off a few frames, potting them up again, and returning them to the ivy – before they could recover from their shock and outrage at being caught, and leap away into hyperspace. Neither the nymphs nor the adults of this species can fly, even though the adults have wings, but they can jump a long way, and will, at the slightest provocation. To be fair, I would too, if I was as far down the food chain as they are.
I couldn’t resist posting the only Issus coleoptratus I’ve ever managed to photograph without needing to expend the slightest effort – especially as all my other shots today were of spiders, and I’m well aware that they’re not everyone’s cup of tea – but I’ve talked about them several times before, so I won’t repeat myself here. There’s plenty of information about them in this post if you’d like to know more, and my extra here is a photo of an adult.
