Observaciones de eickwort

I noticed some water oak leaves that were wet from honeydew, so I looked upwards, and found a colony of oak treehopper nymphs (juveniles) on a twig of the same tree. Facing towards them from a few inches further up on the twig was a lone adult. This is likely their mother; the females of this species are known to stay and keep watch over their young, and try to chase off any predators that threaten them. They will even sacrifice themselves to the predator if necessary.

Found on leaves of a Carya glabra sapling. I did not observe it feeding, but there is a small line of damage along a leaf vein that is similar to adult feeding patterns that are known for this genus.

Length 4.6 mm. Multiple specimens collected from bark and wood galleries (except for one that I found walking on the bark surface) in a dead hickory - I suspect that they were originally Euplatypus compositus galleries, but I'm not certain. I've shared the samples with coleopterists at FDACS-DPI, and gotten in touch with Tommy McElrath at the University of Illinois, who studies this group.

5.1 mm long, collected on the outer bark of a dead hickory. My field pictures were all blurry, but I took some microscope images. Later in the day, I went back to the tree with Dr. Andrew Johnson (FDACS-DPI and UF/IFAS), and we collected more specimens from galleries in the tree.