#Graphocephala coccinea

[horsebeast]

red-banded leafhopper, Graphocephala coccinea

#my pics #bugs #graphocephala coccinea #red banded leafhopper

[waterbugworks]

The Candy-striped Leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea)! This arthropod friend hails from North and Central America, all the way from Canada down to Panama.

#candy-striped leafhopper #graphocephala coccinea #insects #bugs #arthropods #arthropod art #cute

[griseocollis]

Red-banded leafhopper petalhopper 💛

Red-banded leafhopper (G. coccinea) on black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia sp., probably R. hirta)

#insects #bugs #cute bugs #summer #spring #nature #photography #nature photography #yellow #green #red banded leafhopper #graphocephala coccinea #insect and flower ID under the cut #black eyed susan #rudbeckia sp #rudbeckia hirta

[crevicedwelling]

I see at least one cool bug a day, and usually many more, but it’s not because I live anywhere particularly rich in strange, wonderful creatures (I live in an unremarkable corner of Pennsylvania, USA) or spend all of my free time looking for bugs (well, just *most* of it). in my experience, finding interesting bugs is less about actually locating them and more about looking closely at tiny things you’d otherwise ignore!

this very long post was compiled over a couple days in late July, although I spent less than 10 minutes at a time searching. there’s a lot of fun creatures just out in the open.

plants are always a good place to start when looking for bugs, and I chose this small fig tree (Ficus carica) with a mulberry sapling friend. feeding on the sap of the fig and mulberry is the first group I’ll take a look at, the planthoppers:

these two are flatid bugs, Metcalfa pruinosa and Flatormenis proxima. flatids are slow-moving bugs that can be approached closely, but once they get tired of circling around stems to avoid you they may launch themselves into a fluttering flight with spring-loaded rear legs.

Aplos simplex, a member of the related family Issidae, also likes fig sap. its “tail” is actually a tuft of waxy secretions, which get shed along with the bright colors when it assumes a lumpy, bean-shaped adult form.

cicadellids, or leafhoppers, are just about everywhere on plants, but can be hard to approach without scaring them.

Agallia constricta on the left is a tiny species that feeds on grass, but many were scared up onto the fig by my footsteps. Jikradia olitoria is a much larger species that does feed on the fig; juveniles like this are curled, creeping goblins while adults’ rounded wings give them a pill-shaped appearance.

this big, pale leafhopper belongs to genus Gyponana. it’s tricky to get to species ID with these.

Graphocephala are striking little hoppers that eat a variety of native and nonnative plants. G. coccinea is the larger, more boldly colored one and G. versuta is smaller but more common locally. they’ll sit on the tops of leaves but take flight if you get too close quickly.

another group you’re almost guaranteed to encounter are flies (Diptera). these are a very diverse group, so much more than houseflies and mosquitoes (though I did run into both)

where I live, any plant with broad leaves is almost guaranteed to have a few Condylostylus, long-legged flies that come in shades of blue, green, and red. despite their dainty physique, they’re agile predators, typically feeding on other small flies.

next, a few hoverflies: the ubiquitous Toxomerus geminatus and a Eumerus that I’ve been seeing a lot of this year (but maybe I’ve just noticed them for the first time). syrphids have varied life histories, but most adults drink nectar and many of the larvae are predaceous on aphids.

the metallic green soldier fly is Microchrysa flaviventris, nonnative here. Coenosia is a fun example of a “fly that looks like a fly,” with big red eyes and a gray body, and you might think they’re just another dung-sucking pest, but they’re actually aggressive predators! this one seemed to have nabbed itself some sort of nematoceran fly, maybe a fungus gnat.

many flies are very tiny, just millimeters long. the first two little fellows are lauxaniids, while the last one, an agromyzid leafminer Cerodontha dorsalis, burrows through grass leaves as a larva.

while moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera) are drawn to plants for their flowers or to lay eggs, many small moths can easily be found resting on or under leaves during the day.

these first two are tortricids, many of which are flat, rectangular moths resembling chips of bark or dead leaves. the apple bud moth, Platynota idaeusalis, feeds on a wide variety of hosts, while this beat-up old Argyrotaenia pinatubana would have developed in an edible tube nest of pine needles.

Callima argenticinctella feeds in bark and dead wood (a resource used by more caterpillars than you’d realize!) while the last moth, possibly an Aspilanta, is a leafminer.

although beetles (Coleoptera) are famous for their diversity, I didn’t find too many on the fig. the invasive Oriental beetle Exomala orientalis resting here can be found in a wide range of colors, from this common tan to to deep iridescent black. the other beetle is a Photinus pyralis firefly, sleeping under leaves as fireflies do.

a few spare hemipterans: a Kleidocerys resedae that blew in on a wind, and below, the mulberry whitefly Tetraleurodes mori feeds on its namesake host. as for Hymenoptera, I saw manny tiny parasitic braconid wasps and various ants attracted to the planthoppers’ honeydew excretions—always worth checking underneath roosting hoppers for things having a drink.

a couple handsome spider boys were scrambling through the fig seeking females, a jumping spider Paraphidippus aurantius and an orbweaver, Mecynogea lemniscata.

and to round it off, a young Conocephalus meadow katydid and a Carolina mantis, Stagmomantis carolina.

there’s 31 species of arthropod in this post, and I probably saw some 45, not all of which stayed for photos. if you walk slowly and look closely, you can see a sizeable chunk of your local biodiversity in under fifteen minutes! of course this will depend on where you live and what time of year it is, but there’s almost always more cool bugs out there than you’d expect, even on just a single plant.

#bugs #insect #arachnid #biodiversity #Hemiptera

[alcnfr]

A few Insecty/Buggy pics from the day...

A Black Carpenter Ant (probably: Camponotus pennsylvanicus) dragging off a long dead Fall Webworm (Hyphantria cunea).

Likely a Banded Tussock Moth caterpillar (Halysidota tessellaris).

Candy-Striped Leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea).

And 2- Two-Lined Spittlebugs (Prosapia bicincta).

#nature #my photography #insects #caterpillars #tussock moth #nature photography #spittlebugs #leafhopper #backyard nature #wildlife photography #bugs

[speakingofnature]

Red-banded Leafhopper

The colorful markings of the Red-banded Leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea) would make it quite noticeable if not for its tiny size. The leafhopper is a vector of the bacteria that causes leaf scorch in elm and oak trees.

#Red-banded Leafhopper #nature

[jupiterswasphouse]

Red-banded Leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea)

#cicadellidae #Hemiptera #leafhopper #Leafhoppers #Insect #Insects #Bug #Bugs #True bugs #Entomology #Arthropods #Photo #Photos #Wasp House Sights

[robotblues]

Red-banded Leafhopper – Graphocephala coccinea Photographed at DuPage County, Illinois. Size: 8.5mm

#leafhopper #red-banded leafhopper #bugs #true bugs #animals #m

[bugsonthefarm]

Planthopper (Graphocephala coccinea)

Aug 30 2022

What a beauty! Always love bumping into a cool bug unexpectedly. This one was chilling on a wild rose bush. 

Native

#hemiptera #planthopper #native

[psikonauti]

Red-banded Leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea)

#Red-banded Leafhopper #Graphocephala coccinea #Upl #Insects #grasshopper #Leafhopper #Colorful Leafhopper

[fellowrat]

Candy-striped leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea) for anonymous

These true bugs are native to Central and South America. Colourful as they are, their defense strategy -- as their name suggests -- consists of powerful jumps when predators are in the vicinity. Their diet consists of plant sap. They are relatively harmless, as far as agricultural pests go, but can be vectors of disease between plants.

#Hemiptera #leafhopper #candy-striped leafhopper #bugblr #insects #bugs #animal art #watercolour #anon #suggestion #I had not seen these before #thank you! #Graphocephala coccinea

[mortemcatabasis]

Candy-Striped Leafhopper

#digital art #doodle #bug #candy striped leafhopper #graphocephala coccinea #insect tw #hey remember last night i said im gonna try and draw a critter everyday n i would start with a leafhopper? #well im actually doing it #the tag 4 these is gonna be -> #critter doodles #anyway these guys r cool i get them in my garden sometimes theyre vry small and cute

[humanbyweight]

Candy-Striped Leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea)

#Graphocephala coccinea #bug #Rochester Institute of Technology #bioblitz #photographers on tumblr #My Shtuf #backlog #:o

[aardwolfpack]

Graphocephala coccinea, commonly known as the red-banded or candy-striped leafhopper, photographed by Derek Hauffe in Bessemer, Alabama.

I now know the true name of the insects my brother and I called Power Ranger bugs.  I don't remember why we gave them that name, but it still pops into my head every time I see them.

#leafhopper #derek hauffe #graphocephala coccinea #graphocephala #insect photography #insect #bug

[dendroica]

Red-banded Leafhopper or Candy-striped Leafhopper, Graphocephala coccinea (by me)

#Red-banded Leafhopper #Candy-striped Leafhopper #Graphocephala coccinea #Graphocephala #Cicadellini #Cicadellinae #Cicadellidae #Cicadoidea #Auchenorrhyncha #Hemiptera #Insecta #Hexapoda #Arthropoda #leafhopper #insects #summer #Highland Park Meadows #Highland Park #Middlesex County #New Jersey #mine

[alcnfr]

Candy-Striped Leafhopper (Graphocephala coccinea)

Two-Lined Spittlebug (Prosapia bicincta)

#nature #my photography #tiny bug #insects #backyard nature #nature photography #leafhopper #spittlebugs