It was on the plant that it's resting on in this photo. I checked all the photos I took of the hopper, but none of them show much more of the plant than is seen here. The plant was something less than 2 feet tall in a grassy meadow (near oak trees and a creek).

sorry to ask you so many questions but do you now what trail it was on by any chance?

I remember exactly where this was. It was along Little Pine Creek Road (trail) not far from North Gate Road:

- enter the park via North Gate Rd and drive past all the cow pastures
- after the cow pastures end there is a sign saying you're entering the park (or something to that effect, even though the official entrance where you pay was a ways back)
- there is a pullout the right side of the road near the park sign, near Little Pine Creek. Park there.
- take the trail towards Little Pine Creek.
- cross the creek, then take Little Pine Creek Road (fire trail) to the left instead of the fork to the right which is Falcon Road (another fire trail).
- the hopper was in the grass to the left of Little Pine Creek Rd, between the trail and the creek. I think it was no more than 50-100 feet from where you cross the creek -- not far from North Gate Rd, or from various oak trees.
- here is an approximate lat/long: 37.884 -121.9769

Let me know if you find anything interesting...

The stem with all the stomates lined up like that should be a grass. Essig lists the host for P. minax as oak.

It looks like the specimens of Platycotis minax in my collection.

Glad you're loading all these CA species!

Every specimen of Platycotis minax that I have pinned has had the wings flex up in an unnatural position. Your picture is just great.

Your photos will be very helpful in identifying critters I find. I wish I could spend more time in the field ...

I moved it under Platycotis for now. It's not as spectacular as the other Platycotis vittata in the guide! Hopefully I'll find one of those one day..