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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » Free-living Hemipterans (Auchenorrhyncha) » Cicadomorpha » Leafhoppers, Treehoppers and Aetalionids (Membracoidea) » Leafhoppers (Cicadellidae)

Family Cicadellidae - Leafhoppers

Classification · Pronunciation · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · Internet References · Works Cited
Leafhopper - Macrosteles parvidens Leafhopper - Menosoma cinctum Brown hopper nymph - Penthimia Cicadellidae, lateral - Eratoneura Gyponana sp. - Gyponana gladia Leafhopper - Alebra thoracica - female Leafhopper with blue eyes - Macrosteles Tropicanus costomaculatus
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)
Suborder Auchenorrhyncha (Free-living Hemipterans)
Infraorder Cicadomorpha
Superfamily Membracoidea (Leafhoppers, Treehoppers and Aetalionids)
Family Cicadellidae (Leafhoppers)
Pronunciation
sik-ah-DELL-ih-dee
Numbers
about 3,000 described species in NA, ca. 22,000 described species worldwide (estimated global diversity >100,000 spp.) arranged into ~25 subfamilies and almost 60 tribes(1)(2)
~80 spp. in Yukon(3)
>500 spp. in QC (checklist)(4)
Size
2-30 mm, usually under 13 mm
Identification
Key to subfamilies and tribes in(1), simplified version in(5)
Wing nomenclature
Range
worldwide; in NA, some species migrate south in the fall, and back north in the spring
selected checklists and faunal works:(6)
Habitat
nearly every habitat with vascular plants, incl. deserts, grasslands, wetlands, and forests
Season
year-round in the south; spring through fall in the north; some species overwinter as adults beneath leaf litter or matted grasses
Food
nymphs and adults feed on sap of above-ground stems or leaves of plants; some species are more host-specific than others
Life Cycle
varies according to species; in general, female inserts several eggs into living tissue of host plant; eggs either remain dormant for a period ranging from a month to over a year, or develop and hatch within a few weeks; nymphs undergo five molts, reaching adult stage in several weeks or months
Remarks
Leafhoppers coat their bodies and wings with a light dusting of water-repellent waxy material (brochosomes), sometimes distributed unevenly as bilaterally asymmetric whitish streaks [Dr Hamilton's comment]
Leafhoppers have sound-producing organs (tymbals) at the base of abdomen (songs usually too faint for human ear)
Several species are serious crop pests; some transmit plant pathogens (viruses, mycoplasma-like organisms, etc.)
Internet References
(7)
Works Cited
1.Keys to the families of Cicadomorpha and subfamilies and tribes of Cicadellidae (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha)
Dietrich C.H. 2005. Florida Entomologist 88: 502-517.
2.Dietrich C.H. (2001-2008) Leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha: Cicadellidae)
3.Leafhoppers (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) of the Yukon: Dispersal and endemism
Hamilton K.G.A. 1997. p.337–375 in: Danks H.V., Downes J.A. (Eds) Insects of the Yukon. Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods), Ottawa.
4.Pilon et al. (1988-2015) Entomofaune du Québec
5.Cicadellidae subfamily key
6.Hamilton K.G.A. (1998) "Short-Horned" Bugs (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha) [of the Montane Cordillera Ecozone]
7.McKamey S.H. (2001-2010) Checklist of leafhopper species 1758-1955 (Hemiptera: Membracoidea: Cicadellidae and Myserslopiidae)
Contributed by Troy Bartlett on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by john and jane balaban, Stephen_WV, Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, ceiseman, Robert Lord Zimlich, v belov, antarctica
Last updated 6 September, 2020 - 4:29pm

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