I’ll huff and I’ll puff

Psyllids are small ‘cicada-looking’ insects that suck sap out of leaves (Click HERE for more info). When psyllid eggs hatch the nymphs also suck sap. As they do they extrude a sugar/wax type substance known as honeydew. They fashion this substance into protective houses under which they live. The houses are known as lerps and different psyllid species construct different shaped lerps. Pictured left are the White Clam lerp (Hyalinaspis sp.), left and the Sugar lerp (Glycaspis sp.), right. Lerps offer the nymph a humidity-controlled environment and shelter from predators. And there are many of those.

Ants are commonly found around lerps. The conical pyramid construction of the Sugar lerp is quite solid. Ants usually try to remove sugar from the wall of the lerp to take back to the nest. The roof of the White Clam lerp however is less sturdy.

Pictured above is an ant (Chelander rubriceps) devouring a psyllid nymph after breaking through the roof of the lerp.

Somehow it reminds me of a porcine childhood fable.