Lantern Fly of Borneo

A pair of lantern flies in Mulu

Despite its name, and its Rudolph-like yellow-light-bulb “nose”, the lantern fly does not light up like a lantern. It is, however, very colourful, with striking patterns on its wings. Not all species are so brightly coloured though, with some being just plain white with a red snout.

Usually seen singly or in pairs perching unmovingly on the trunk of a tree, the lantern fly occurs mainly in South East Asia and there are about 30 species. In Borneo, they can be found in tropical rainforests like Poring Hot Springs, Kinabatangan River and Gunung Mulu National Park.

It feeds on the sap from trees and the snout is used to pierce tree bark to reach the sap. Not much else information can be found on the Internet about this insect, and Wikipedia (at the moment) has an entry on only one species.

Common name: Lantern Fly

Genus: Pyrops

Family: Fulgoridae

Order: Hemiptera (of which the most familiar is the cicada)

Reference on the Internet:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrops_candelarius

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrops

http://aestheticarthropoda.blogspot.com/2006/12/pyrops-candelaria.html

http://jonyehsiphotography.blogspot.com/2008/12/lantern-bug.html

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