Leafhopper

Soon after the Mysore trip I sold both my Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon EOS 7D camera bodies and purchased Canon EOS 1D Mark IV. I needed a camera which included the features of 5D Mark II & 7D and 1D Mark IV fitted that slot correctly. As Canon puts it in its press statement about EOS-1D Mark IV is a high-speed, professional Digital SLR (DSLR) camera designed to empower photographers to capture split-second moments in high resolution, under the most challenging of conditions. Ideal for shooting action, sports, news events and wildlife photography, the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV delivers speed, power and high-resolution images, creating the perfect camera for photographers who require reliability in fast-paced, high-pressure situations.

EOS-1D Mark IV features a new Canon 16.1MP APS-H CMOS sensor and a brand new 45-point Auto Focus (AF) system with 39 f/2.8 sensitive cross-type points, providing a wide selection of precise focus areas across the frame. Dual DIGIC 4 processors provide the power to shoot continuous, high-resolution images at up to 10 frames per second (fps), as well as delivering the widest ISO range ever to feature in a Canon camera. I am not going to review this camera as it is reviewed at so many sites on internet.

Leafhopper

I found this Leafhopper at my house main door on friday the 13th afternoon. Nothing ominous about this insect though. This is a small 3mm long insect. Leafhopper is a common name applied to any species from the family Cicadellidae. Leafhoppers, colloquially known as hoppers, are minute plant-feeding insects. I could not get any species identification as there are over 20,000 species of Cicadellidae world wide. Leafhoppers are found all over the world, and constitute the second-largest hemipteran family.

I used Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro lens on Canon EOS 1D Mark IV with Canon Speedlite 580EX II flash fitted with ExpoImaging Ray Flash Adapter. Leafhopper was on the door and allowed me to reach close to 1:1 magnification before jumping off. Light from the adapter was somewhat harsh on the glossy wings. I wanted to change angle of flash and try again to avoid the reflection on the wings, but insect jumped away. On Adobe Lightroom during post processing I tried several methods to reduce the harsh highlight on the wings, what really succeeded was the Luminance slider from the HSL group. Check the detailed tutorial on that method here – Lightroom – Recover Highlights, Overexposure, and Colors from RAW

Leafhopper

Leafhoppers have piercing-sucking mouthparts, enabling them to feed on plant sap. A leafhoppers’ diet commonly consists of sap from a wide and diverse range of plants, but some are more host-specific. Leafhoppers mainly are herbivores, but some are known to eat smaller insects, such as aphids, on occasion. A few species are known to be mud-puddling, but as it seems, females rarely engage in such behavior. Leafhoppers can transmit plant pathogens, such as viruses, phytoplasmas and bacteria.

Cicadellidae species that are significant agricultural pests include the beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenellus), potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae), two-spotted leafhopper (Sophonia rufofascia), glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca vitripennis), the common brown leafhopper (Orosius orientalis) and white apple leafhopper (Typhlocyba pomaria).

Camponotus Ant Tending Aphids

I found this Camponotus Ant (thanks Alex for pointing out the correct ID for the ant) on hibiscus branch which was tending aphids.

I used Rayflash ring flash adapter attached to Canon Speedlite 580EX II which gave a far smoother light for the ant. The effect was far better than Canon MT-24EX macro twin light flash.

Some ants “farm” aphids, protecting them on the plants they eat, eating the honeydew that the aphids release from the terminations of their alimentary canals. This is a “mutualistic relationship”. These “dairying ants” “milk” the aphids by stroking them with their antennae. Therefore, sometimes aphids are called “ant cows”.

Some farming ant species gather and store the aphid eggs in their nests over the winter. In the spring, the ants carry the newly-hatched aphids back to the plants. Some species of ants manage large “herds” of aphids that feed on roots of plants in the ant colony. Queens that are leaving to start a new colony take an aphid egg to found a new herd of underground aphids in the new colony. These farming ants protect the aphids by fighting off aphid predators.

It was common at one time to suggest that the cornicles were the source of the honeydew, and this was even included in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary and the 2008 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia. In fact, honeydew secretions are produced from the anus of the aphid, while cornicles mostly produce defensive chemicals such as waxes.

Aphids, also known as plant lice or greenflies, are small plant-eating insects, and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Aphids are among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions. The damage they do to plants has made them enemies of farmers and gardeners the world over, but from a purely zoological standpoint they are a very successful group of organisms.