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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Hoppers (Auchenorrhyncha) » Cicadas, Spittlebugs, Leafhoppers, and Treehoppers (Cicadomorpha) » Leafhoppers and Treehoppers (Membracoidea) » Typical Leafhoppers (Cicadellidae) » Sharpshooters (Cicadellinae)

Subfamily Cicadellinae - Sharpshooters

Leafhopper in Beaver County PA - Draeculacephala mollipes

Red-banded Leafhopper - Graphocephala coccinea

Glassy-winged sharpshooter - Homalodisca vitripennis

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)

Suborder Auchenorrhyncha (True Hoppers)

Infraorder Cicadomorpha (Cicadas, Spittlebugs, Leafhoppers, and Treehoppers)

Superfamily Membracoidea (Leafhoppers and Treehoppers)

Family Cicadellidae (Typical Leafhoppers)

Subfamily Cicadellinae (Sharpshooters)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

=Amblycephalinae, Tettigellinae

Explanation of Names

The name 'sharpshooters' refers to their habit of forcing excess water droplets out of the tip of the abdomen with an audible popping noise. (based on Dr Hamilton's comment)

(video of this behavior here)

Numbers

ca. 160 spp. in >30 genera in our area(1); ~2,400 spp. in ~330 genera worldwide, arranged in 2 tribes(2)

Cicadellini Latreille, 1825

Proconiini Stål, 1869

Food

xylem feeders

Remarks

Pending tribal revision with the erection of Oncometopiini (which will include all current members of Proconiini north of Mexico except for Paraulacizes and Egidemia). Closely related to Evacanthinae (Pagaroniini is most similar) and Signoretiinae (found in the afrotropics and oriental realm). Bathysmatophorinae may also be closely related.

Print References

McKamey, S.H. (2007) Taxonomic Catalogue of the Leafhoppers (Membracoidea). Part 1. Cicadellinae. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 78: 1–394.

Young, D.A. (1968) Taxonomic study of the Cicadellinae (Homoptera, Cicadellidae). Part 1. Proconiini. United States National Museum Technical Bulletin 261. 287 pp.

Young, D.A. (1977) Taxonomic study of the Cicadellinae (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). Part 2. New World Cicadellini and the genus Cicadella. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station Technical Bulletin 239. 1135 pp. (title page)

Works Cited

1.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.

2.	Wilson M.R., Turner J.A., McKamey S.H. (2009) Sharpshooter leafhoppers of the world (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellinae)

Contributed by Robin McLeod on 18 May, 2006 - 6:01pm
Additional contributions by cotinis, Hannah Nendick-Mason, Mike Quinn, v belov, hg, antarctica
Last updated 25 March, 2021 - 1:46pm

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