Helmet, Hats, Wings....

A treehopper with a helmet that looks like an ant.

…a trio of University of Connecticut biologists led by Cera Fisher has analyzed genetic data that could help resolve the helmet mystery once and for all. Their study, published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution, suggests treehopper helmets are indeed bits of thorax, not wings. But there’s a twist: The strange structures still rely on wing genes to grow.

“Treehopper helmets are just fantastic, and their morphological diversity is amazing,” says Kasey Fowler-Finn, an evolutionary biologist and treehopper expert at St. Louis University who wasn’t involved in the study. After nearly a decade of controversy, she says, “I think we finally have the real answer here.”  ---  Smithsonian