Photos of Membracis mexicana, periquito de nanche

Posted March 16, 2017

The FLAAR philosophy is to document that most insects are not harmful to humans. We understand that many people don't like insects. But spraying pesticide, insecticide, and other poisonous chemicals in your garden or home can potentially cause eventual cancer or other expensive diseases to YOU and to your CHILDREN.

The insects we show here I found on the seed pods of the yellow-flowered Cassia tree which grows next to our house. This Cassia fistula is not native to Guatemala, but is a common garden tree. Until I can get seeds of the gorgeous lavender flowered Cassia grandis plant of Peten, Belize and other areas of the Mayan forests, we keep the Cassia fistula.

Membracis mexicana, periquito de nanche, leafhopper. They are known to like avocado trees: there is an avocado tree 2 meters away, plus in the yards of houses on both sides of our yard. They are listed as a plague for nance trees; there is a nance tree 3 meters away. So these insects are happy in our tree area, 1500 meters above sea level, in the hills of Zona 15, overlooking several volcanoes on the horizon.

I love learning about how these insects go through their growth stages: how they change color; how they interact with the ants.

Of course you should get rid of mosquitos and insects which can spread diseases which are worse than pesticides. But in general, thousands of kinds of insects are part of our eco-system, and we should not simply exterminate them (especially not with pesticide and insecticide).