Thread about a mind-blowing observation I made 2day: while coming from office I saw strange nodules on a plant leaves. Out of curiosity I plucked one leaf with nodules n brought home. My guess was it must bel disease which is causing abnormal growth #scicomm #sciencetwitter (1/n) 
To check what these nodules made up of, I cut open one. I saw it was not some abnormal growth but a cavity like we see in avocado when seed is removed. And to my surprise there was a tiny insect sitting inside. I thought it must b dead but it moved.
#scicomm #sciencetwitter (2/n)
#scicomm #sciencetwitter (2/n)
I took the insect and put it under the Foldscope. It was beautiful animal, shot the following video. It was alive and I could see its body parts functioning.
@TeamFoldscope @PrakashLab @gubbilabs @venadavenu
#scicomm #sciencetwitter (3/n)
@TeamFoldscope @PrakashLab @gubbilabs @venadavenu
#scicomm #sciencetwitter (3/n)
Flipped the slide and took another video of its stomach and legs.
@TeamFoldscope @PrakashLab @COOOLSTEMGames @gubbilabs #scicomm #sciencetwitter 4(/n)
@TeamFoldscope @PrakashLab @COOOLSTEMGames @gubbilabs #scicomm #sciencetwitter 4(/n)
As there was no opening in the nodule I wasn't sure how the insect must have gone inside. Is it possible that the insect forced plant to form the nodule around it. To probe further, I took a thin section of nodule along with the leaf as shown here👇 #scicomm #sciencetwitter (5/n)
When observed the section of nodule n leaf under d Foldscope, I could c that the nodule was very much part of the leaf n it seems likely that the insect somehow forced the plant to make d nodule. @TeamFoldscope @PrakashLab @COOOLSTEMGames @gubbilabs #scicomm #sciencetwitter (6/n)
This is all speculation based on what I observed. I'll be reading more about it and check how much what I think is correct. @TeamFoldscope @PrakashLab @COOOLSTEMGames @gubbilabs #scicomm #sciencetwitter (7/n)
Did some reading, starting with d article @kvijayraghavan sir shared. And suggestions given by @Abhadra7 @venadavenu @shyama13 @samalgorai this is what I found: the nodules are called galls. Various insects can induce gall formation. #scicomm #sciencetwitter (8/n)
After reading I found that I was correct in thinking that the insect forced d plant to form galls. D insect activates perturbations in d growth mechanism n alters d differentiation process in d host plant. Use it to their advantage. (9/n) #scicomm #sciencetwitter
Found a researcher named Anantanarayanan Raman from @CharlesSturtUni of Australia. He has studied the gall inducing insects in Indian subcontinent. I'm not sure if he is on twitter but his work is fascinating! #scicomm #sciencetwitter (10/n)
Here the link to Dr A. Raman's profile- science.csu.edu.au/schools/agricu… (12/n)
And list of publicans focused on galls inducing insects-
scholar.google.co.in/scholar?hl=en&… (13/n)
scholar.google.co.in/scholar?hl=en&… (13/n)
A beautiful video by David Attenborough explaining the world of gall makers. It is fascinating that I expected. Watch it to get shocked #scicomm #sciencetwitter (14/n)
Finally identified the specific insect I had observed. It is Purposylla depresse. Crawford. Found a paper which describes it in detail. The paper is by K Veenakumari of NBAIR Bangalore. #scicomm #sciencetwitter (17/n)
The insect is found across Indian subcontinent. Here is its distribution👇 #scicomm #sciencetwitter (17/n) hemiptera-databases.org/psyllist/?lang…
