leafhopper

(Errastunus ocellaris)

Conservation Status
leafhopper (Errastunus ocellaris)
Photo by Alfredo Colon
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

not listed

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Errastunus ocellaris is a small, non-native leafhopper. Like most leafhoppers, it has no common name. It is native Europe and was introduced into North America as early as 1944. It now occurs across Canada, and in the United States it occurs in Maine south to North Carolina and west to Minnesota. Adults are found in June and July in old fields and lawns feeding on plant juices of grasses, especially non-native ones, and on sedges.

Adults are (3.0 to 4.0 mm) long. The background color is milky white with extensive dark brown making the overall appearance dark. The head, the exoskeletal plate covering the thorax (pronotum), and the plate between the wing bases (scutellum) are lighter than the forewings (hemelytra). They are white with orange spots, light brown spots, dark brown spots, or a combination of these.

The head is about as wide at the base as the pronotum. There are two large compound eyes and two tiny simple eyes (ocelli). The upper surface of the head (vertex) is broadly triangular and bluntly pointed. It is about as long as the distance between the compound eyes. There are two small triangular marks near the tip (apex), two smaller spots behind these on the margin, and two large irregular spots in the middle. The face, not visible from above, is black. The antennae are short and bristle-like.

The pronotum does not extend over the abdomen. The plate between the wing bases (scutellum) is large and triangular, with a spot in each corner and a pair of longitudinal lines down the middle.

There are two pairs of wings, and they are held tent-like over the body when at rest. The forewings (hemelytra) are thickened and short. They do not extend to the tip of the abdomen. The hemelytra are comprised of a narrow area (clavus) behind the scutellum when the hemelytra are closed; and the remaining, broad, marginal area (corium). On each hemelytron there is a light brown line on the inner margin (claval commisure) and a light brown line separating the clavus and corium. The clavus and corium are mostly covered with numerous small and large spots. The spots are light brown and at least partially outlined with dark brown. The hindwings are thin, membranous, a little shorter than the hemelytra, and concealed beneath the hemelytra.

The last part of the leg (tarsus), corresponding to a foot, has three segments.

 
     
 

Size

 
 

Total length: (3.0 to 4.0 mm)

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Old fields, lawns

 
     
 
Biology
 
 

Season

 
 

June and July

 
     
 

Behavior

 
 

 

 
     
 

Life Cycle

 
 

 

 
     
 

Nymph Food

 
 

 

 
     
 

Adult Food

 
 

Plant juices from the leaves of many grasses and sedges, especially non-native grasses.

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82.

 
  1/22/2020      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

 

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
 

Order

Hemiptera (true bugs, hoppers, aphids, and allies)  
 

Suborder

Auchenorrhyncha (true hoppers)  
 

Infraorder

Cicadomorpha (spittlebugs, cicadas, leafhoppers and treehoppers)  
 

Superfamily

Membracoidea (leafhoppers and treehoppers)  
 

Family

Cicadellidae (typical leafhoppers)  
 

Subfamily

Deltocephalinae  
 

Tribe

Paralimnini  
  Subtribe Paralimnina  
 

Genus

Errastunus  
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Errastunus sobrinus

Latalus ocellaris

Latalus sobrinus

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

This species has no common name. The common name of the family Cicadellidae is leafhoppers, and it is applied here for convenience.

 
       

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Corium

The thickened basal portion of the front wing that lies between the clavus and the membrane of insects in the family Hemiptera. Plural: coria.

 

Hemelytron

The forewing of true bugs (Order Hemiptera), thickened at the base and membranous at the tip. Plural: hemelytra.

 

Ocellus

Simple eye; an eye with a single lens. Plural: ocelli.

 

Pronotum

The exoskeletal plate on the upper side of the first segment of the thorax of an insect.

 

Scutellum

The exoskeletal plate covering the rearward (posterior) part of the middle segment of the thorax in some insects. In Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Homoptera, the dorsal, often triangular plate behind the pronotum and between the bases of the front wings. In Diptera, the exoskeletal plate between the abdomen and the thorax.

 

Tarsus

On insects, the last two to five subdivisions of the leg, attached to the tibia; the foot. On spiders, the last segment of the leg. Plural: tarsi.

 

Vertex

The upper surface of an insect’s head.

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
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Alfredo Colon

 
    leafhopper (Errastunus ocellaris)      
           
 
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  Alfredo Colon
Summer 2018

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota

leafhopper (Errastunus ocellaris)  
           
 
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Created: 1/22/2020

Last Updated:

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