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Friday, June 14, 2013

Three-cornered Alfalfa Hopper

The Three-cornered Alfalfa Hopper, scientifically known as Ceresa festina or more commonly Spissistilus festinus, is a species of Buffalo Treehopper (Ceresa). Unlike other species in this genus, it's all green, including the underside of the abdomen and the legs. The eyes, however, are reddish or pink. Though it has the customary raised pronotum (called a pronotal helmet), the latter is smooth, not horned or spiked. From above the helmet looks like the three-cornered hat fashionable back in the 18th century. This bug can be damaging to crops such as soybeans and peanuts. I found the following specimen on a sunflower stem (Helianthus annuus). You can see how well it blends in.


References:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/10001 (mainly photos)
http://wiki.bugwood.org/Archive:GATop50/Three-cornered_Alfalfa_Hopper (life cycle & control)
http://www.cirrusimage.com/homoptera_treehopper_Ceresa_taurina.htm (examines anatomy of treehoppers)
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3495609?uid=3739896&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102110264843 (predation)
https://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/aimg84.html
http://www.fcla.edu/FlaEnt/fe78p561.html (predation)

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