Order
Hemiptera
- This page contains pictures and information about Leafhoppers and
Treehoppers that we found in the Brisbane area,
Queensland, Australia.
-
 - Leafhopper Nymphs
-
- Leafhoppers are tent-shaped insects which resemble
small cicadas. Some species are green in colour, some are brown while
some are black with white, red or creamy-yellow markings. The nymphal stages resemble the adults but wings are absent.
Most leafhopper species live in colonies
of mixed stages while few other species are solitary.
-
- Leafhoppers are small, plants
feeding insects ranging in colour from green, through yellow-green to brown.
They can be found on tree trunks, stems and leaves. They feed by sucking the sap
of plants.
-
 
 - Different leafhopper nymph 6mm Nymph
8mm
Attended by ants
-
- All
of them jump, so their name hoppers. Some of their adults are active flyers.
-
- Several species are
attended by ants which collect the sugary secretions (honeydew) produced by
the leafhoppers. An airborne fungal disease – sooty mould
– is sometimes associated with the honeydew.
- They are small, plants feeding insects ranging in colour from green,
through yellow-green to brown. They can be found on tree trunks, stems and
leaves. They feed by sucking the sap of plants. All of them jump, so their
name hoppers. Some of their adults are active flyer.
-
-
- Members in this family have the enlarged pronotum extending back over
the abdomen between wings, which gives them the bizarre looking body shape.
Many species also have the pronotum extending forward so that they are
horned. Some may mimic thorns on their host plant.
-
- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 469.
- 2. The leafhoppers and froghoppers of Australia and New Zealand (Homoptera: Cicadelloidea and Cercopoidea) - J W Evans, Australian Museum,
1966, p28.
- 3. Northern
Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
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[ Up ] [ Cercopoidea ] [ Membracoidea (Cicadelloidea) ] [ Other Hoppers and Unidentified Hoppers ]
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Family
Cicadllidae - Leafhoppers
Family Membracidae - Horned Treehoppers