Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em

Jonathan Swift wrote:

"So, Nat'ralists observe, a Flea
Hath smaller Fleas that on him prey,
And these have smaller yet to bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum"

Which is often rendered in the Augustus De Morgan re-write:

"Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on"

So the Ixora plant by my door here on Nevis has Green Scale (and green aphids) attacking it, and the Green Scale insects have parasitoids in the wasp family Encyrtid attacking them, and so on...

Posted on March 21, 2020 12:20 AM by susanhewitt susanhewitt

Observations

Photos / Sounds

What

Aphids (Family Aphididae)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

March 20, 2020 05:56 PM EDT

Photos / Sounds

What

Green Coffee Scale (Coccus viridis)

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

March 20, 2020 05:57 PM EDT

Description

The green translucent ones are normal. The dark ones are parasitized, I assume?

These scale insects are living on the underside of leaves of a yellow Ixora.

Photos / Sounds

Observer

susanhewitt

Date

March 20, 2020 05:57 PM EDT

Description

Some of these Green Scales, Coccus viridis, appear to be parasitized, and so I assume they were attacked by parasitoid wasps in the family Encyrtidae?

Comments

I love it Susan, a bit of culture with our nature lessons. We could use a lot more. Thank you.

Posted by rtwhitson3 about 4 years ago

Everyone loves a good meal!

Posted by kitty12 about 4 years ago

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