Honeydew (secretion)

Honeydew is a sugary excretion product of various Hemiptera ( Hemiptera ), especially aphids ( Aphidina ), scale insects ( Coccina ), psyllids ( Psyllina ), whiteflies ( Aleyrodina ) and various cicadas ( Auchenorrhyncha ). These insects feed on the sap from the sieve tubes of various plants. The high pressure in these tubes, the animals take on plenty of fluids and enter it in the form of honeydew again.

Honeydew is a popular source of food for various insects that feed on the sweet juice or use it as a supplementary food. It is known to panhandling of honeydew by ants ( Formicidae ), aphids like dairy cows keep and protect them also from grazing predators. Most other insects, such as many (Diptera ) and Hymenoptera ( Hymenoptera), lick the honey dew from leaves or needles, where it can form a thick and sticky film. Also on vehicles that park in the warm season under heavily populated by aphids trees, this film can be seen after a few hours.

When fresh honeydew is clear. It is rich in sugars, especially of fruit, grape and regular sugar (sucrose), besides also maltose, melezitose and Fructomaltose and other oligosaccharides in smaller quantities occur. In addition, honeydew containing enzymes, organic acids, vitamins, and adenosine phosphate.

The sugar-containing juice, when it is not harvested by insects, rapidly settled by Rußtaupilzen. These fungi damaging the plant not directly, but can hinder photosynthesis.

Honey bees sometimes collect honeydew nectar instead. This then provides the basis for different types of honey, which are referred to as leaf, fir or spruce honeys. The color and flavor of these honeys vary greatly depending on its origin, especially in the dating of fir and spruce forest honeys. Also, some species of bumblebee collect honeydew.

In the forest honey is always a certain content of the sugar melezitose present. This depends on the metabolism of the host tree from ( phloem ) and the fermentation by the various Rindenlausarten. As one example, the spotted Lärchenrindenlaus ( Cinara laricis ) suspected to generate a great deal melezitose. If the content of this triple sugar exceeds 10 to 12%, the honey crystallized rapidly, already in the honey bee colony space of ( from the bottom of the honeycomb cell ). So he can not, or are only harvested partially and with significantly increased expense. Such honey is then referred to as Melezitosehonig or cement honey.

Certain Honigtaue bienenunverträgliche contain toxic or shares that trigger the non-contagious Black Addiction ( Forest costume disease).

Honeydew is also known under the name of mildew, which is not to be confused with mildew.