''Flatida rosea'', the flower-spike bug or the flatid leaf bug, is a species of

planthopper A planthopper is any insect in the infraorder Fulgoromorpha, in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, a group exceeding 12,500 described species worldwide. The name comes from their remarkable resemblance to leaves and other plants of their environment ...

in the family

Flatidae Flatidae are a family of fulgoroid planthoppers. They are cosmopolitan in distribution and are distinguished from others in the superfamily by a combination of characters. Like all other planthoppers, they suck phloem sap of plants. Some spe ...

. It is found in

tropical dry forests The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

in Madagascar, and the adult insects are gregarious, the groups orienting themselves in such a way that they resemble a flower spike. The adults have wide pink wings which they hold vertically in a tent-like fashion, concealing the whole body. The nymphs have no wings, but can move about, and are defensively covered in wispy white wax, with a plume of waxy tendrils. Like other bugs in this family, both adults and nymphs feed by piercing the bark with their mouthparts and sucking sap from the

phloem Phloem (, ) is the living biological tissue, tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as ''photosynthates'', in particular the sugar sucrose, to the rest of the plant. This tran ...

. The adults are mobile, and can jump if disturbed. ''Flatida rosea'' feed on the liana '' Elachyptera minimiflora''. The

nymphs A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are typ ...

produce copious quantities of honeydew and the

Coquerel's coua Coquerel's coua (''Coua coquereli'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is Endemism, endemic to Madagascar. Its habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It was named in 1867 by the French naturalist Alfred Grandidier in hon ...

(''Coua coquerelii'') feeds on this.

References

External links

* Flatidae Insects of Madagascar Endemic fauna of Madagascar {{Fulgoromorpha-stub