Ennya chrysura Fairmaire

[taxonomy:binomial=Ennya chrysura] [taxonomy:family=Membracidae] Sabanilla de Montes de Oca, San José, Costa Rica With the help of a special microphone, we can listen to the substrate-borne vibrations of these treehoppers. Observe the movements of the abdomen as they produce the substrate-borne vibrations to know which treehopper is "talking".Three treehoppers of the species Ennya chrysura are standing below a leaf. On the right side, we see part of a female, and a male mounting and producing his courtship song. On the left side, there is another male producing his "siren" signal to "jam" the courtship of the other male. This way, he probably lowers the chances of success of the courting male, and perhaps gets a better chance of success himself. . .

[taxonomy:binomial=Ennya chrysura] [taxonomy:family=Membracidae] Sabanilla de Montes de Oca, San José, Costa Rica With the help of a special microphone, we can listen to the substrate-borne vibrations of these treehoppers. Observe the movements of the abdomen as they produce the substrate-borne vibrations to know which treehopper is "talking". Females and males of this species are distinguished by coloration. The females are yellow with a few black spots, and the males are black with the dorsal and distal tips of their pronotum in yellow. In this video, you can see a male mounting a female, and the female producing a "drumming" signal as she rejects the male. Little plastic numbers were glued to treehoppers to identify individuals as part of my research project.

[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.

[taxonomy:binomial=Ennya chrysura] [taxonomy:family=Membracidae] Sabanilla de Montes de Oca, San José, Costa Rica. Treehoppers communicate via substrate-borne vibrations: it is as if their words traveled through the plants on which they live. Here you can listen to the two typical "verses" of this species males' courtship song, and also watch the courting behaviors.

[taxonomy:binomial=Ennya chrysura] [taxonomy:family=Membracidae] Sabanilla de Montes de Oca, San José, Costa Rica With the help of a special microphone, we can listen to the substrate-borne vibrations of these treehoppers. Observe the movements of the abdomen as they produce the substrate-borne vibrations to know which treehopper is "talking". Here you can see two treehopper males. One of the males produces his "siren" signal, probably to identify itself as a male when the other one climbs on its pronotum.