Thursday, June 20, 2013

Acanaloniid Planthopper Nymphs

You've probably seen these tiny white fluffy insects on your plants before and wondered what they were. They're nymphs of an Acanaloniid Planthopper. Adults are usually green with broad prominently-veined wings held vertically, mimicking a leaf or seed pod, while the nymphs are easily recognizable by the two white fuzzy "tails" of wax.

The first two specimens I found belong to either Acanalonia servillei or A. pumila. Apparently the color pattern is distinctive, though I can't tell the difference between these two species. All I know is A. pumila is more southerly than A. servillei, so the latter might be the correct ID. If anyone could help me out on this I'd appreciate it. Both species have dark patches on the sides and red eyes. These two little guys were resting on a Yellow Bell stalk. They were camera-shy, so I had to follow them with my lens up and down, round and about the stalk.


Later I spotted another species, Acanalonia bivittata, commonly called the Two-striped Planthopper.


References:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/57439 (A. servillei)
http://bugguide.net/node/view/57446 (A. pumila)
http://bugguide.net/node/view/15670 (A. bivittata)
http://www.americaninsects.net/h/acanalonia-bivittata.html (A. bivittata)
http://www.fnanaturesearch.org/index.php?option=com_naturesearch&task=view&id=926 (A. bivittata)

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