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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » Free-living Hemipterans (Auchenorrhyncha) » Cicadoidea » Spittlebugs (Cercopidae)
Photo#166162
Fossil Hemiptera Auchenorrhyncha 01
Copyright © 2008 Karl Volkman

Fossil Hemiptera Auchenorrhyncha 01
Klondike Mountain Formation, 49 milliion years old, Ferry County, Washington, USA
Size: 3cm across
Many of the Hemipterans from the fossil site are much larger then those found in the area now.

The environment which this specimen lived in was upland subtropical/temperate, think SE Asia and SE USA combined, subtropical mixed broadleaf forest with a strong coniferous segment.

Images of this individual: tag all
Fossil Hemiptera Auchenorrhyncha 01 Fossil Auchenorrhyncha 04 SRIC
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Contributed by Karl Volkman on 20 January, 2008 - 10:30pm
Last updated 18 March, 2008 - 7:14am

Moved
Moved from Free-living Hemipterans.
… Karl Volkman, 6 February, 2008 - 11:57am login or register to post comments

Cercopidae
You can tell that this is a spittlebug, because the base of the fore wing has a characteristic veinlike arch which is actually a flange on the lower surface of the wing to clip it to the thorax when the wings are folded. That is an unique Cercopid feature.

There are lots of tropical spittlebugs that attain that size. In the Eocene (58-36 million years ago) this part of North America would have been subtropical; temperate flora didn't come into the area until the next era, the Miocene.
… Andy Hamilton, 6 February, 2008 - 8:29am login or register to post comments

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