Nature has no shortage of animal camouflage tricks. One newly recognized form of deception, used by plant-eating insects called leafhoppers, was thought to have a whole different purpose.
Leafhoppers are found worldwide in temperate and tropical regions. Most of the insects, of which there are about 20,000 described species, produce small quantities of microspheres called brochosomes — tiny soccer ball–like particles with honeycomb indentations. Researchers figured out that the brochosomes, which leafhoppers rub on their bodies, were used primarily to make the…
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