Species Neoaliturus tenellus - Beet Leafhopper

=Circulifer tenellus (Baker) - name still in use, e.g. Invasive Species Compendium (1)

Neoaliturus tenellus (Baker 1896)

3.1-3.5 mm (2)

Females are easily recognized by the dark-margined notch at the base of the ovipositor that looks exactly like a burn mark left on the edge of a table from a lit cigarette. Males are equally distinctive from the underside, having truncate "plates" (the terminal flaps that protect the genitalia look as if they have been cut off transversely). (Comment by Andy Hamilton).

adventive to w. NA; overwinters only on CA coast; native to the Middle East - Map (2)(3)(1)

During the season of 1905 a small leaf hopper (Enlettix tenella) appeared in immense numbers in the beet fields of Utah and the surrounding region. As the season progressed a large number of the beets were found to be affected with a peculiar condition, called "curly-leaf," which resulted in an immense damage to the crop. (2)

earliest NA record: 1896(3)

Ball, E.D. 1907. The genus Eutettix with especial reference to E. tenella, the beet leaf-hopper: a taxonomic, biologic, and economic study of the North American forms. Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences. (12): 27-94. (2)

Circulifer tenellus (beet leafhopper) - Invasive Species Compendium (1)

Beet Leefhopper - Wikipedia