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Planthoppers (infraorder Fulgoromorpha)
Adults
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| Achilid Planthopper (family Achilidae), Durham, 6/20/05. It was very small,
less than ¼ inch long. These
insects live on fungi, commonly found on dead leaves. Achilids are
an especially old species, dating back to the late Jurassic Period. |
Achilid Planthopper, Durham, 7/15/05.
Same insect species as on left. Note the white abdomen. |
Acanaloniid Planthopper (Acanalonia
bivittata), Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Orange County, NC,
8/28/05. |
Acanalonid Planthopper
(Acanalonia conica),
Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Orange
County, NC 7/22/07 |
Nymphs
At least some planthopper nymphs eventually cover themselves with some
filmy white material for camouflage. They show up on struggling plants.
However, sometimes Wheel Bug nymphs catch on -- and catch them.
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| Acanalonid
planthopper
nymph, Penny's Bend Nature Preserve, Durham County, NC, 7/15/07. This
bold nymph looked ready to use fight rather than flight. This little
insect was about 1 mm long. |
Acanaloniid planthopper nymph, Durham,
6/30/08. Note the ridges in the rear part (where the white "tail"
is). |
This is what
happens to the white stuff: it eventually covers the nymph, but you can
make out its basic features. The head is on the right; you can see the
ridged rear half in the center. This was one of many acanaloniid
planthopper nymphs. |
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| Flatid Planthopper nymph, Durham, NC, 7/6/07.
You can see a couple of little legs near the top. |
Flatid Planthopper nymph (dorsal view, head on
bottom) in full camouflage regalia.
Head is at bottom, "tail" at top. Penny's Bend Nature Preserve, Durham
County, NC, 6/20/06 |
Flatid Planthopper nymph (ventral view), Durham, 7/13/06 |
Wheel Bug nymph (late instar) eating what appears to be a Flatid Planthopper
nymph. Eno River SP, Old Cole Mill Road access,
Orange County, NC, 6/23/05. |
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| Planthopper (Otiocerus wolfei, Derbidae family,
Fulgoroidea superfamily), Durham, 9/13/07 |
Cicadas (family Cicadidae, superfamily Cicadoidea, infraorder
Cicadomorpha)
Male cicadas make a very loud grating alarm sound by vibrating
their tymbals, membranes in their abdomens. We first hear them
buzzing during the first really hot days of summer. In 2007, that
wasn't until early August, when the temperature soared above 100º F many if not
most days of that month.
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Southern Dog-day Cicada (Tibicen davisi), Lake Crabtree County Park, 9/12/02. |
Southern Dog-day Cicada?,
Durham, 7/26/05.
A smaller than usual adult. Dog-day cicadas are apparently named
for their tendency to emerge into buzzing adulthood during the most
stultifying heat of the year. |
Southern Dog-day Cicada, Durham, 7/27/05.
This noisy, lively, rather large cicada appeared on my deck at night. |
This Southern Dog-day
Cicada had caught its wings on
grass blades trying to take off. You can see all four wings here.
Durham, 9/22/07 |
Southern Dog-day Cicada,
Durham, 8/21/06.
This cicada was full of vim and vigor on the deck that night, buzzing
wildly and noisily around. To judge from the noise produced, this
was definitely a male. |
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Southern Dog-day Cicada fighting off wasp
attack, Indian Creek Trail, Chatham County, NC, 8/2/05. The cicada
was very noisy as the two bounced around for quite some time. |
Southern Dog-day Cicada,
Eno River SP, Old
Cole Mill Road access, 8/17/05. This
cicada flew up from the middle of the trail to this tree, where it
continued to keep an eye on me. |
Southern Dog-day Cicada
nymph, Durham, NC, 8/15/07. You
can tell from all the clay stuck to this nymph that it recently came up
out of the ground. |
Treehoppers
(family Membracidae, superfamily
Membracoidea, infraorder Cicadomorpha)
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| Thornbug (Umbonia crassicornis), Museum of Life and Science,
Durham, NC, 6/6/05. This is a tropical insect imported by the Museum. |
Oak Treehopper
(Platycotis vittata),
Hanging Rock State Park, Stokes County, NC, 5/22/08. That's a
pants leg it's hanging onto. |
Oak Treehopper
nymph, Duke Forest, Korstian Division,
Orange County, NC, 5/3/06. This is the only one of its species and probably its genus I've
ever seen. Nevertheless, Stephen Cresswell, who identified it,
apparently sees them all the time! Order a product with this photo
at
our online store.
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Same
oak treehopper nymph, dorsal view. |
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Treehopper (Campylenchia latipes). Two carpenter ants came by, crawling over this treehopper while I was
trying to get the photo. They apparently decided there wasn't a
problem. |
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| Ant with a treehopper (Campylenchia latipes), Johnston
Mill Nature Preserve, Orange County, NC, 6/10/06. Carpenter ants
cultivate treehoppers for their honeydew. |
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| Buffalo Treehopper
(Ceresa alta),
Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Orange County, NC, 10/2/05 |
Buffalo
Treehopper, Durham, NC, 6/16/08 |
Buffalo Treehopper,
Durham, 10/17/05. These tiny flowers
are common in my neighborhood marsh/swamp. |
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| Treehopper, Durham, NC, 5/1/07 |
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| Treehopper (Entylia carinata) |
Treehopper (Acutalis
tartarea) |
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Froghoppers/Spittlebugs
(family Cercopidae, superfamily
Cercopoidea, infraorder Cicadomorpha)
As nymphs, they are known as spittlebugs because of their
bubbly disguise; as adults they are known as froghoppers.
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Diamond-backed Spittlebug
(Lepyronia quadrangularis) adult,
Asheville, NC,
7/9/05.
This was at most half an inch long. |
Diamond-backed Spittlebug
adult,
Durham, 7/18/05. Probably the same kind of froghopper as the one
on the left. Does kind of have that froggy look! |
Meadow Spittlebug (Philaenus
spumarius), the nymph form of froghoppers, Eno River SP, Old Cole Mill Road
access, Durham County, NC, 6/23/05. |
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Two-lined
Froghopper (Prosapia bicincta),
Macon County, NC, 8/9/05. |
Two-lined
Froghopper (Prosapia bicincta), Durham, 9/23/05. Found
in my local marsh on a cattail leaf. |
Two-lined Froghoppers,
Airlie Gardens, Wilmington, New Hanover
County, NC, 6/23/06 |
Mystery Hopper Nymph
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| Mystery hopper nymph, Indian Creek Wildlife
Observation Trail, a Jordan Lake Game Land, Chatham County, NC, 4/19/06.
This insect was about ¼ inch long. |
Leafhoppers
(family Cicadellidae, superfamily Cicadilloidea, infraorder Cicadomorpha)
Subfamily Deltocephalinae
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| Leafhopper (Macrosteles
quadrilineatus, subfamily Deltocephalinae) nymph and adult, Durham, NC, 8/15/07. These were two of hundreds
of such leafhopper in what used to be a swamp in my neighborhood before a currently long
drought. The leaf they were on belonged to one of many succulent
plants with yellow flowers. |
Leafhopper (Texananus genus, Iowanus subgenus,
species either longipennis or majestus, Durham, NC, 9/13/07. Genus
and subgenus ID thanks to
Andy Hamilton. |
Leafhopper (Deltocephalus
sonorus, Deltocephalinae subfamily)
and exuvia |
Leafhopper (Exitianus
exitiosis, Deltocephalinae subfamily), Carolina Beach, NC, 6/26/08. ID thanks to
Andy Hamilton. |
Leafhopper
(probably Osbornellus genus, Deltocephalinae subfamily) |
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| Leafhopper (Bandara
genus, Deltodephalinae subfamily) |
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Subfamily Typhlocybinae
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| Leafhopper
(Erythroneura comes, Typhlocybinae subfamily) |
Leafhopper (Erythroneura
osborni, Typhlocybinae subfamily) |
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Subfamily Cicadellinae
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Leafhopper (Evacanthus ustanucha, subfamily Cicadellinae),
Craggy Mountain, Macon County, NC, 7/8/05.
These leafhoppers were common in the wooded side of the mountain near
the summit, although I've never seen them
anywhere else. According to
Andy Hamilton, who IDed it (and in fact named the species in 1983), it has only been seen seen on Mt. Mitchell
and Chestnut Bald (in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains) before. See
relevant BugGuide page.. |
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| Glassy-winged Sharpshooter (Homalodisca
vitripennis, subfamily Cicadellinae), West Point on the Eno, Durham, NC, 7/3/07. ID thanks
to
Andy Hamilton. |
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| Sharpshooter
(Oncometopia orbona, subfamily
Cicadellinae), Durham, NC,
7/6/07 |
Sharpshooter (Oncometopia orbona), Durham, 4/14/06,
according to the
Tree of Life Web Project Auchenorrhyncha page. This one turned
up on the back wall of my house at 9:25 pm. |
Sharpshooter (Oncometopia orbona, subfamily
Cicadellinae), Eno River SP, Old Cole Mill Rd. access, 2/28/06. This critter was about
¾ inch long and looked as though its wings
were yellow and black when flying. |
Sharpshooter (Oncometopia nigricans). I first saw these insects at this
location on 1/12/06 during a warm spell. They were the largest
insects I saw there all winter. |
Late-instar nymph of the
species on left (Oncometopia orbona). I saw an adult try to
protect a nymph by moving next to it and placing its leg over it, but
lost the photo. |
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| Speckled
Sharpshooter (Paraulacizes irrorata, Cicadellinae subfamily) |
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| Leafhopper (Draeculacephala zeae, subfamily
Cicadellinae),
Durham, NC, 6/13/05. Found on leaves of
cattails in my neighborhood swamp. This ITIS recognizes the
validity of this taxon. |
Leafhopper (Draeculacephala zeae),
Ocracoke, Hyde
County, NC, 5/10/06. This leafhopper showed up on the beach near
the water. |
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| Leafhopper (Sibovia genus, subfamily Cicadellinae), Penny's Bend Nature
Preserve, Durham County, NC, 4/20/06 |
Leafhopper (Sibovia genus), Eno River SP, Old Cole Mill Road access, 7/30/05 |
Leafhopper (Sibovia occatoria, subfamily Cicadellinae), Duke Gardens (Asian section), Durham, 7/19/05. |
Leafhopper (Sibovia occatoria), Mason Farm Biological Reserve, Orange
County, NC, 6/17/06 |
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| Leafhopper (Grapho-cephala
versuta), Durham, NC, 6/17/07.
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Leafhopper (Graphocephala versuta),
Durham, 6/30/08. |
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Leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea), Durham, NC, 8/21/08 |
Subfamily Coelidiinae
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Leafhopper (Jikradia olitoria, subfamily Coelidiinae),
Durham, 7/26/05. This insect showed up in a heavily shaded
spot on a blistering hot day. |
Leafhopper (Jikradia olitoria), Penny's Bend Nature Preserve, Durham
County, NC, 8/12/07 |
White Rock Mountain, Macon County, NC, 8/9/05.
Probably the same species as the one on the left. |
Same species of leafhopper (Jikradia olitoria), Eno River State Park,
Fews Ford access, Cox Mountain, 9/16/06 |
Leafhopper nymphs (Coelidia
olitoria, Coelidiinae subfamily)
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| Probably a leafhopper nymph.
Asheville, Buncombe County, NC, 7/8/05. |
Leafhopper nymph, Penny's Bend
Nature Preserve, Durham County, NC, 5/24/08 |
Leafhopper nymph, Durham, 8/1/05.
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Subfamily Gyponinae
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| Leafhopper (Gyponana cacumina, subfamily Gyponinae), Durham, 8/11/06.
A large leafhopper, about half an inch long. Taken at night. |
Mystery Hoppers
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Durham, 6/20/05. This unusual
leafhopper seems to be an albino, or could be freshly emerged from a
molt. It was about half an inch long. |
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| Mystery hopper, Penny's Bend Nature Preserve,
Durham County, NC, 6/1507 |
Mystery hopper River SP, Old Cole Mill Road access, 6/23/05 |
Exuvia
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| This leafhopper exuvia got left behind at Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, Orange
County, NC on 7/15/06 when a leafhopper molted. |
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© Copyright 2005-2008 Dorothy E. Pugh
