When I was in Hong Kong (a report from the world-renowned Mai Po wetland is on its way) I went to a small offshore island called Po Toi with friend and tour-leader Martin Williams. Po Toi is gaining a reputation as a hotspot for finding vagrants to Hong Kong (this year alone it’s produced eg Blue-winged Pitta, Masked Booby, and Drongo Cuckoo) - though the day I went it gained a reputation for being one of the least birdy places on Planet Earth. Such is life, of course, and it is a beautfiul place for anyone tempted to take the ferry from Aberdeen - but the day was salvaged by my first ever sighting of a truly weird and wonderful insect: the Lantern Bug Pyrops candelaria.

Lantern Bug, Po Toi, Hong Kong. April 2008

The Lantern Bug is one of more than 32,000 species of hompoterans found throughout the tropics. All are plant feeders and the extended (and frankly strange) mouth parts are adapted for sucking plant sap from trees and plants. Some can apparently cause injury and destroy valuable food crops such as fruit trees and grain crops and some carry plant diseases, but a few provide secretion or other products that are beneficial and have commercial value. [adapted from http://www.einsteinsemporium.com]

Insects with such a startling and memorable appearance often give rise to folkore attributing magical powers to them. The Lantern Bug is a case in point: it’s common name is based on the insect’s supposed ability to produce light and there is a widely circulated story that persons bitten by this bug will die if they do not have sexual relations within 24 hours (I’d love to know who came up with that one, though I’d bet my house it was a man rather than a woman). In reality, of course, the Lantern Bug is a harmless, beautiful homopteran related to the cicada. It does not produce light, it does not bite, and its long beak is never used except to suck sap from host trees. [www.insectia.com]

Possessed of magical powers or not, I have to say that while Lantern Bugs aren’t quite in the same heart-stopping category as Blue-winged Pittas (at least as far as this birdwatcher is concerned) they’re an exceptionally good reminder that you never know what’s going to be around the next corner…

Incidentally, I also photographed this striking day-flying moth (moth? for sure - note the ‘unclubbed’ antennae) which I can’t find on the net. If anyone can put a name to it, I’d be very grateful.

Unknown moth, Po Toi, Hong Kong. April 2008