Leafhopper Attracted to Lights - Paraphlepsius

Looks like

a species of Paraphlepsius, maybe irroratus?

… Robin McLeod, 22 July, 2005 - 2:13am

Paraphlepsius spp.

There are many species that look superficially alike, but P. irroratus is not one of them - it is much more slender, and has very distinctive genitalia. The male abdomen ends in spatulate processes, while the female has a trifurcate plate at the base of the ovipositor. I still have LOTS of reprints available, free of charge, if anyone wants to identify species in this genus. Send requests to hamiltona (AT) agr.gc.ca

… Andy Hamilton, 22 July, 2005 - 9:34am

Paraphlepsius species

image moved from family page to genus page

… Robin McLeod, 18 May, 2006 - 11:19am

Andy, Thanks

Andy, once again thanks so much for the ID of this hopper!

--Stephen

Stephen Cresswell
Buckhannon, WV
www.stephencresswell.com

… Stephen Cresswell, 22 July, 2005 - 10:18am

Thanks, Robin

Thanks, Robin! You're right, they do look pretty similar, especially the mossy kind of pattern that covers the wings. I missed that in my tour of the Cicadellidae.

As far as P. irroatus, a few differences that I see in my photo are some bluish color on the sides, pink eyes, and some different speckling on the pronotum. As always, it is hard for me to say how many of these differences to attribute to individual variation, and how much may be due to it being a different species (if it is).

By the way, I checked at Nearctica.com to see how many species there are in this genus, thinking it would be easier if there were only one or two. There were 69 Nearctic species!

--Stephen

Stephen Cresswell
Buckhannon, WV
www.stephencresswell.com

… Stephen Cresswell, 22 July, 2005 - 5:25am