Gum Tree Hopper (nymphs + adult)

Cool!

This would be a great addition to the global mission, The Hoppers: http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8096480

Wish I could help you with the species, it's similar to the lined gum treehopper, but the pattern on the nymphs is not the same. Alice: true parental care is very rare in insects, aside from social insects like wasps, ants and bees, only a small handful come to mind (For example, earwig females guard their eggs and their hatchlings, until they are mature enough to leave the nest on their own). This clustering of adults and juveniles is pretty common among insects that undergo incomplete metamorphosis. Since adults and juveniles eat the same type of food, and often prefer specific host plants, the adults don't need to disperse far from where they were born. But also the point made about safety in numbers holds true as well. Especially with insects that have the aposematic (warning) coloration that alerts predators to their bad taste or chemical defenses. In that case having a cluster of these brightly colored insects reinforces the "message".

RachaelB and Alice: I've spoted some groups like that, but of treehoppers: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/9000338 At first, I thought it was some kind of parental behavior but now I think that these are actually brothers, coming from the same laying, but that developed in different time lapses. I've seen that differential development occurring among other insects, like grasshoppers and caterpillars. I followed a group of newborn grasshoppers for more then two months, and I could see fully grown up specimens side by side with some others still in the second or third instars (which brings on another peculiarity of their behavior, they stay grouped for a long time, maybe looking for security in numbers). The link bellow shows individuals of at least three different instars together. http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/8308144 http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/8308144

Cool! I wonder if that is Mama overseeing them.