Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Aphid defense



The photo shows the abdominal tubes called cornicles which exude a defensive liquid called cornicle wax. It is the orange stuff you can see in the photo. I'm not sure how it works but it is quick-hardening like super glue. Yuck.

ABC Wednesday

4 comments:

Joy said...

Never underestimate a plant:-)
I loved your leaf poem on the previous post. The joy of a breezy day.

Richard Lawry said...

Awesome close-up, and educational to boot.

An Arkies Musings

jay said...

I don't know much about aphids, but I'm guessing the wax tastes bad, or smells bad, to a predator? Or maybe it's even toxic?

Great picture! I love insect macros!

Pollyanna said...

Most interesting information. My roses have been aphid free thus far - let's hope it stays that way. Love the macro.