As they feed on tree sap they expel small droplets of clear waste fluid.

[1] The redeye was originally described by German naturalist Ernst Friedrich Germar in 1834 as Cicada moerens, and later transferred to the new genus Psaltoda, where it was designated the type species by Swedish entomologist Carl Stål.

[2][3] Walter Wilson Froggatt reported that the common name was used by Sydney children in his 1907 work Australian Insects, referring to the colour of the ocelli.

It is found from the coast inland to Toowoomba and Inverell in the north, and the Grampians and Mount Lofty Ranges in the south.

They expel waste fluid which can fall in a constant shower if there are large numbers of redeyes.

The redeye and related black prince are favoured food items of the noisy friarbird, which swallows them head-first and whole.