Take Me To Your Leader

[best appreciated at full size against black]

What looks like an light green miniature grain of rice, springs from leaf to leaf like an over-caffeinated cricket and is only 1/16" long? Why, this tiny cutie pie, of course! :D This juvenile leafhopper was so small that I was just fooling around when I tried to take its picture without a tripod. I didn't actually think I'd be successful, so I could hardly believe it when I saw this image!! Yay for Image Stabilization!!

Leafhoppers are found all over the world and there are at least 20,000 described species! Most feed on plant sap, but will sometimes eat small insects like aphids. They can transmit plant pathogens from one plant to another and seven species are the carriers for a number of deadly crop viruses. Happily we don't have to worry about that and I love these adorable little guys! If you would like to know more about leafhoppers, Wiki has a great page here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leafhopper

This image was taken in March, 2012.