This species is native to North America, but now it is widespread throughout southern Europe and it is also present in the Near East and in North Africa.[3] Also recently reported from vineyards of Kashmir, India[4]
Appearance
Buffalo treehoppers are a bright green color and have a somewhat triangular shape that helps camouflage them so as to resemble thorns or a twiggy protuberance.[5][6][7] It gets its name from the vague resemblance of its profile to that of an American bison.[6] They grow to 6 to 8 millimeters (0.24 to 0.31 in) long and have transparent wings.[6][7]
Stictocephala bisonia Side view
Front view
Dorsal view
Life cycle
S. bisonia mates during the summer months.[7] Males attract females with a song that, unlike similar songs used by cicada and crickets, is perceived by the female not as sound waves but as vibrations through the host plant.[8] Females lay eggs from July to October using a blade-like ovipositor.[6][7] Up to a dozen eggs are laid in each slit made by the female.[6][7]
Nymphs emerge from the eggs the following May or June.[6][7] The nymphs, which resemble wingless adults, but have a more spiny appearance, descend from the trees where they hatched to feed on grasses, weeds, and other nonwoody plants.[6][7]
They molt several times in the following month and a half until they have reached adulthood.[7] Then they return to the trees to continue their life cycle.[7]
Alberto Alma et al., Particularities of Polynema striaticorne as egg parasite of Stictocephala bisonia (Rhynchota: Auchenorrhyncha), 6th Auchenorrhyncha Meeting Turin, 1988, pp.597–603.
Arzone, C. Vidano, A. Alma Auchenorrhyncha introduced into Europe from the Nearctic region: taxonomic and phytopathological problems. Proceedings of 2nd International Workshop on Leafhoppers and Planthoppers of Economic Importance: Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, USA, 28 July-1 August 1986: 3-17
D. D. Kopp, Yonke, T. R., Taxonomic Status of the Buffalo Treehopper and the Name Ceresa bubalus, in Annals of the Entomological Society of America, vol. 70, no. 6, 1977, pp.901–905
Gabriel Simões de Andrade (1997): Stictocephala alta (Walker, 1851) sp. rev., comb. n., the Correct Name for the "Buffalo Treehopper", with S. bisonia Kopp & Yonke, 1977 as a New Synonym, and Notes on Hadrophallus bubalus (Fabricius, 1794) comb. n. (Homoptera: Membracidae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society Vol. 123, No. 4: 289-295.
Gabriel Simões de Andrade (2008): On the synonymy of Stictocephala alta (Walker) and Thelia constans Walker (Hemiptera: Membracidae). Revista Brasileira de Zoologia 25 (1): 148–149
P. Bovey & H. Leuzinger (1938): Présence en Suisse de Ceresa bubalus F., Membracidae nuisible d’origine américaine. Bulletin de la Société Vaudoise des sciences naturelles 60: 193–200
W. V. Balduf: Observations on the buffalo tree-hopper Ceresa bubalus Fabr. (Membracidae, Homoptera) and the bionomics of an egg parasite, Polynema striaticorne Girault (Mymaridae, Hymenoptera). Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 1928, 21(3):419-435.
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