Suborder Homoptera: Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Scale Insects
Live cicadas, aphids, leafhoppers and planthoppers photographed in the wild
The Homoptera have the dubious distinction of being probably the most destructive agricultural pests.
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Leafhopper
 Coelidia olitoria


Red-banded Leafhopper
Graphocephala coccinea


Acanaloniid Planthopper
Acanalonia bivittata

Planthopper
Planthopper
Anormenis chloris 
Annual Cicada
Annual Cicada
Tibicen linnei


Annual Cicada
Tibicen canicularis


Red aphids by the hundreds

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Ladybugs prey on aphids

Insects in the order Hemiptera were historically placed into two orders, Homoptera and Heteroptera/Hemiptera, based on the differences in wing structure and the position of the rostrum. These two orders were then combined into the single order Hemiptera by many authorities, with Homoptera and Heteroptera classified as suborders.

The order is presently more usually divided into four or more suborders, after it was established that the families grouped together as "Homoptera" are not as closely related as had previously been thought. Auchenorrhyncha contains the cicadas, leafhoppers,treehoppers, planthoppers, and froghoppers. The 12,500 species in the suborder Sternorrhyncha are aphids, whiteflies and scale insects.

The suborder Coleorrhyncha (comprising the single family Peloridiidae), contains fewer than 30 species of Gondwana-distributed bugs, and is sometimes grouped with the Heteroptera (to form the suborder Prosorrhyncha). Heteroptera itself is a group of 25,000 species of relatively large bugs, including the shield bugs, seed bugs, assassin bugs, flower bugs and the water bugs.

Treehopper Ceresa taurina
Treehopper Ceresa taurina


Coelidia olitoria
Family: Cicadellidae

Leafhopper
Leafhopper
Xyphon flaviceps

Spittlebug
Clastoptera proteus 

Partridge Scolops
Scolops sulcipes

The Homoptera have the dubious distinction of being probably the most destructive insects of all. They include aphids, leafhoppers, cicadas,  scale insects, psyllids, and whiteflies: approximately 45,000 species worldwide, 6,000 in North America.

Homopteran wings are uniformly membranous, unlike the true bugs which have a leathery portion at the base of their wings.  All Homopterans feed exclusively on plants, but their diets vary tremendously, as do their reproductive methods. Many species reproduce sexually, while others do so parthenogenically (without mating). Cicadas and leafhoppers mate sexually, and most females have large ovipositors which they use to deposit eggs into slits they cut in plant tissue. But Aphids can reproduce without having sex, and are among the most destructive of all homopterans - theoretically, one female aphid is capable of producing billions of offspring. All homopterans undergo simple metamorphosis.

Many insects in this order exude waxy secretions which protect them from attack and make them impervious to water; others secrete a sweet secretion called honeydew. Members of the order hymenoptera, the ants, have learned to "farm" aphids for their secretions -- in turn, they protect the aphid colonies from attack by other predators and parasites. This symbiotic relationship is one of the most fascinating in nature.

Ormenaria rufifascia
Flatid Planthopper
Ormenaria rufifascia
Two-lined Spittlebug
Two-lined Spittlebug
Prosapia bicincta
Cuerna costalis
Planthopper
Cuerna costalis
Leafhopper - Graphocephala teliformis
Leafhopper
 Graphocephala teliformis

17-year periodic cicada, Magicicada sp. brood XIII, 2007
17-year periodic cicada, Magicicada sp. brood XIII, 2007

Periodic cicadas are found only in eastern North America. There are seven species in the genus Magicicada -- four with 13-year life cycles and three with 17-year cycles. The three 17-year species are northern in distribution, while the 13-year species are generally southern and midwestern. The periodic cicadas can be divided into three species groups (-decim, -cassini, and -decula) with slight ecological differences. Magicicada are so synchronized developmentally that they are nearly absent as adults in the 12 or 16 years between emergences. When they do emerge after their long juvenile periods, they do so in huge numbers, forming much denser aggregations than those achieved by most other cicadas.

 

The emergence of brood XIII in 2007 was quite an event here, near Chicago. There were places where the cicadas emerged by the millions and fouled roadways, sidewalks and car windshields, yet other areas just a mile away were devoid of the insects. The picture above was taken at the Morton Arboretum at Lisle, Illinois - a hotbed of the emergence. They we there by the hundreds of thousands and the roar was loud, strident, and unceasing. I hope I live until the next one!

Silver Leafhopper, Athysanus argentarius
Silver Leafhopper
 Athysanus argentarius
Glassy-winged sharpshooter - Homalodisca vitripennis
Glassy-winged sharpshooter
 Homalodisca vitripennis


Aphids damage plants by piercing tissue and sucking juices

Aphids are small, soft-bodied insects with long, slender mouth parts that they use to pierce stems, leaves, and other tender plant parts and suck out plant fluids. Almost every plant has one or more aphid species that occasionally feeds on it.

Aphids may be green, yellow, brown, red, or black depending on the species and the plants they feed on. A few species appear waxy or woolly due to the secretion of a waxy white or gray substance over their body surface. All are small, pear-shaped insects with long legs and antennae. Most species have a pair of tubelike structures called cornicles projecting backwards out of the hind end of their bodies. The presence of cornicles distinguishes aphids from all other insects.

Generally adult aphids are wingless, but most species also occur in winged forms, especially when populations are high or during spring and fall. The ability to produce winged individuals provides the pest with a way to disperse to other plants when the quality of the food source deteriorates.

Although they may be found singly, aphids often feed in dense groups on leaves or stems. Unlike leafhoppers, plant bugs, and certain other insects that might be confused with them, most aphids do not move rapidly when disturbed. [2]

Planthopper Nymph, Acanalonia bivittata
Planthopper Nymph, Acanalonia bivittata

Silver Leafhopper, Athysanus argentarius
Figure 1. Silver Leafhopper, Athysanus argentarius

"Sharpshooter" is one common name for the leafhopper subfamily Cicadellinae, which includes Paraulacizes, Oncometopia, Cuerna, Draeculacephala, Graphocephala and many other genera. They get this name from their habit of feeding on the watery sap of xylem tissue, which conducts moisture from the roots up to the leaves. Excess water droplets are forced out the tip of the abdomen (Fig 1.) with an audible popping noise, hence the common name. [1]

References
  1. Gene Kritsky et al., Observations on periodical cicadas (Brood X) in Indiana and Ohio in 2004 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Magicicada spp.).: An article from: Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science (Thomson Gale, 2005).  
  2. University of California Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, Aphids

 

               
 
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