| Buffalo treehopper | |
|---|---|
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| Stictocephala bisonia, side view | |
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| Upperside | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Suborder: | Auchenorrhyncha |
| Family: | Membracidae |
| Genus: | Stictocephala |
| Species: | S. bisonia |
| Binomial name | |
| Stictocephala bisonia | |
The buffalo treehopper (Stictocephala bisonia) is a species of treehopper belonging to the subfamily Membracinae. [1] It is sometimes classified as Ceresa bisonia. [2]
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]
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. [4] [5] [6] It gets its name from the vague resemblance of its profile to that of an American bison. [5] They grow to 6 to 8 millimeters (0.24 to 0.31 in) long and have transparent wings. [5] [6]
S. bisonia mates during the summer months. [6] 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. [7] Females lay eggs from July to October using a blade-like ovipositor. [5] [6] Up to a dozen eggs are laid in each slit made by the female. [5] [6]
Nymphs emerge from the eggs the following May or June. [5] [6] 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. [5] [6]
They molt several times in the following month and a half until they have reached adulthood. [6] Then they return to the trees to continue their life cycle. [6]
Both adult and immature buffalo treehoppers feed upon sap using specialized mouthparts suited for this purpose. [6] Black locust, clover, elm, goldenrod, and willow are among their favorite food sources. [6] It is also an occasional pest of fruit trees and is harmful to young orchard trees, especially apple trees. [6] It has become an invasive species in some parts of Europe. [2]
The cicadas are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera. They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two families, the Tettigarctidae, with two species in Australia, and the Cicadidae, with more than 3,000 species described from around the world; many species remain undescribed.
Hemiptera is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from 1 mm (0.04 in) to around 15 cm (6 in), and share a common arrangement of piercing-sucking mouthparts. The name "true bugs" is often limited to the suborder Heteroptera.
The froghoppers, or the superfamily Cercopoidea, are a group of hemipteran insects in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha. Adults are capable of jumping many times their height and length, giving the group their common name, but they are best known for their plant-sucking nymphs which encase themselves in foam in springtime.
Telingana is a genus of membracid tree hoppers found in Asia. They lay solitary eggs and the young do not aggregate as in some membracids. The genus was described by William Lucas Distant in 1908. Several species have been described in the genus including:
A leafhopper is the common name for any species from the family Cicadellidae. These minute insects, colloquially known as hoppers, are plant feeders that suck plant sap from grass, shrubs, or trees. Their hind legs are modified for jumping, and are covered with hairs that facilitate the spreading of a secretion over their bodies that acts as a water repellent and carrier of pheromones. They undergo a partial metamorphosis, and have various host associations, varying from very generalized to very specific. Some species have a cosmopolitan distribution, or occur throughout the temperate and tropical regions. Some are pests or vectors of plant viruses and phytoplasmas. The family is distributed all over the world, and constitutes the second-largest hemipteran family, with at least 20,000 described species.
Treehoppers and thorn bugs are members of the family Membracidae, a group of insects related to the cicadas and the leafhoppers. About 3,200 species of treehoppers in over 400 genera are known. They are found on all continents except Antarctica; only five species are known from Europe. Individual treehoppers usually live for only a few months.
The Mymaridae, commonly known as fairyflies or fairy wasps, are a family of chalcidoid wasps found in temperate and tropical regions throughout the world. The family contains around 100 genera with 1,400 species.
A planthopper is any insect in the infraorder Fulgoromorpha, in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, a group exceeding 12,500 described species worldwide. The name comes from their remarkable resemblance to leaves and other plants of their environment and that they often "hop" for quick transportation in a similar way to that of grasshoppers. However, planthoppers generally walk very slowly. Distributed worldwide, all members of this group are plant-feeders, though few are considered pests. The infraorder contains only a single superfamily, Fulgoroidea. Fulgoroids are most reliably distinguished from the other Auchenorrhyncha by two features; the bifurcate ("Y"-shaped) anal vein in the forewing, and the thickened, three-segmented antennae, with a generally round or egg-shaped second segment (pedicel) that bears a fine filamentous arista.
The Cixiidae are a family of fulgoroid insects, one of many families commonly known as planthoppers, distributed worldwide and comprising more than 2,000 species from over 150 genera. The genera are placed into three subfamilies, Borystheninae, Bothriocerinae and Cixiinae with sixteen tribes currently accepted in Cixiinae.
Umbonia crassicornis, commonly known as the thorn bug, is a widespread member of the insect family Membracidae, and an occasional pest of ornamentals and fruit trees in southern Florida. The body length of the adult is approximately 10 millimetres (0.39 in). This is a variable species as to size, color and structure, particularly the pronotal horn of males. This tall, essentially perpendicular thorn-like pronotum discourages birds and other predators from eating it, if only by mistakenly confusing it with a thorn. Typically, the adult is green or yellow with reddish lines and brownish markings.
Encarsia perplexa is a tiny parasitic wasp, a parasitoid of the citrus blackfly, Aleurocanthus woglumi, which is a global pest of citrus trees. It was originally misidentified as Encarsia opulenta, but was recorded as a new species in 1998. It is a native of Asia but has been introduced to many other parts of the world as a means of controlling the citrus blackfly.
Centrotus cornutus (thorn-hopper) is a species of "treehoppers" belonging to the family Membracidae.
Aconophora compressa is a species of insect in the treehopper family, Membracidae. It is known by the common names lantana bug, lantana treehopper, lantana stemsucking treehopper, and lantana sap-sucking bug.
Umbonia spinosa is a species of treehopper or thorn bug native to South America.
Epiricania melanoleuca is a moth in the family Epipyropidae. It was described by Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher in 1939. It is found in India, where its larvae are external parasitoids of the sugarcane planthopper. It has been used in biological pest control against this pest.
Enchenopa binotata is a complex of multiple species found mostly in Eastern North America, but have also been reported in Central America. They are commonly referred to as treehoppers and are sap-feeding insects. The species in the complex look similar to each other in morphology, but are identified as different species by the host plant they occupy.
Aetalionidae are a family of treehoppers in the superfamily Membracoidea. Aetalionidae are somewhat like Membracidae in that they have one to three rows of short spines on the hind tibia but differ in having the front femur fused to the trochanter and the scutellum is completely exposed. The females have finger-like protrusions on the genital capsule. The family is mostly Neotropical. The subfamily Biturritiinae is Neotropical while the subfamily Aetalioninae has a Neotropical genus Aetalion and the sole Old World representative genus Darthula with a single species Darthula hardwickii.
Smiliinae is a subfamily of treehoppers in the family Membracidae. These are bugs and include about 100 genera in 10 tribes.
Polynema striaticorne is a species of fairyfly. It parasitizes the eggs of the Buffalo treehopper.
Antonae is a genus of treehoppers in the family Membracidae.
Data related to Ceresini at Wikispecies
Media related to Stictocephala bisonia at Wikimedia Commons