It took me a while to come up with Zygina as a possible genus for this one. (Of course, the first thing I did was go through Robert Zimlich's collection, but no luck.) From what I read, Z. flammigera is native to Europe but has made it's way here. I don't know how many species belong in Zygina, and also know nothing about leafhoppers as a whole...so I decided to leave this in ID Request. Oh, this is what I found and used to point me towards Zygina flammigera: www.britishbugs.org.uk ...along with the two matching photos currently in Bug Guide's Zygina. My leafhopper was a few millimeters smaller than the ones in Bug Guide, but I don't know if that matters or not? (For the record, I had my art ruler handy when it landed on my paper and I did measure it. It was a tad past 2mm.)

When I sit at my little desk at night, lots of bugs fly into the lamp and get 'buzzed'. I always have my camera right there with me to snap a photo or two of them before they fly away again. That is exactly how I came across this leafhopper. I was amazed by how small it was, and how under closer inspection, it had such a unique pattern (in orange, no less!). I managed to get five photos before it flew away, and only two of them were focused right. Also, finding this bug corresponded with the raising of the Christmas tree, which had been cut and sitting outside in the lawn under some pine trees... so it may have hitched a ride in on that.