These bugs poo sticky honeydew!

Aphids are a type of insect known as ‘true bugs’. They feed on plant sap until their host plants become depleted, then grow wings and fly to pastures new. They excrete a sweet liquid called honeydew, which contains various sugars including melitose which, if eaten by humans, boosts beneficial gut bacteria such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. Wafer like flakes of melitose are produced by some trees and also by other insects - this may be the manna described in the bible.

It also leads ants to tend aphids as we do dairy cows - they protect them from predators and milk them by stroking them with their antennae to encourage excretion of honeydew. Ants find aphids by following a scent produced by bacteria living in aphid guts. Sadly the for the aphids, the same scent attracts marmalade hoverflies to lay their eggs near them, so their larvae can make a meal them…