Female guarding eggs from parasitoid wasp

Description:

[taxonomy:binomial=Ennya chrysura] [taxonomy:family=Membracidae] Sabanilla de Montes de Oca, San José, Costa Rica. A female of the treehopper species Ennya chrysura is guarding her eggs from a parasitoid wasp of the family Mymaridae. Egg-guarding behavior is known as subsocial behavior: anything done by either of the parents to higher their offsprings' chances of survival. In this case, the mother was quite successful by kicking the wasp before she oviposited on her guarded eggs. With the help of a special microphone, we can listen to the substrate-borne vibrations of these treehoppers. Females of E. chrysura often produce an alarm "drumming" signal when disturbed. In this case, we can also hear the movements and kicks of the female. Infrared light was used in the dark so that we wouldn't disturbe the organisms. The image is blurry because this was taped through a plastic cup that was used to avoid the wasps from flying away. The little number in the treehopper was glued to recognize individuals as part of a research project.