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Sharpshooter Leafhopper

Cyrtodisca major, Tribe Proconiini, Family Cicadellidae

Description:

Striking Leafhoppers of about 2 cm in length in small groups on the leaves. Intricate pattern on the head and thorax. There seem to be something like 56 genera.

Habitat:

Tropical Forest, dry season, Chorreadero Park, 10 km above Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico.

Notes:

They were fun to play with. When you get close, they move sideways and disappear to the back side of the leaf. When you put your hand to the backside, they reappear on the front, still moving sideways. They will do that for hours, rather than jump or fly.

1 Species ID Suggestions

bayucca
bayucca 11 years ago
Sharpshooter
Cyrtodisca major


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12 Comments

JasonCryan
JasonCryan 11 years ago

Thanks so much, Lauren! There's still some controversy...another paper just came out based on mitochondrial genomics that concluded differently...so, time will tell! We just do the best we can...!

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 11 years ago

Hi Jason. I read your whole paper, not that I could understand some of it. Since I was a student there was always the underlying controversy over Hemiptera-Homoptera and whether it should all be Heteroptera. Anyway, I'm glad you told me and I applaud your efforts to fix a mess like the Hemiptera. Great paper by the way, lots and lots of work!

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 11 years ago

Yes, bayucca, very good. Those links definently look like this, only the color is different, but pinned specimens often lose color and the second link mentions "variants" that may be related to color.

JasonCryan
JasonCryan 11 years ago

Hahahaha! Yeah, there are still folks who want to use Homoptera. But it's not a 'natural' group...the Sternorrhyncha (scales, aphids, whiteflies) are not the sister group to the hoppers. Heteroptera and Coleorrhyncha are mixed in there as well...so "Hemiptera" it is for them all! We'll get it all systematically sorted out eventually. If you're interested, I have a recent paper on this question (Cryan, J.R., and J.M. Urban. 2012. Higher-level phylogeny of the insect order Hemiptera: Is Auchenorrhyncha really paraphyletic? Systematic Entomology 37: 7-21)

bayucca
bayucca 11 years ago

I found it in a book. Actually I did not had the time to do a profound websearch, but the source I usually use is the one from the link. The problem is you need first an IDea to get closer ;-)...
http://naturalhistory.museumwales.ac.uk/...
There is even a better one:
http://imperialis.inhs.illinois.edu/taki...

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 11 years ago

Hi bayucca, how do you know the species if it's not available to see? Do you you have access to real specimens there? I can't find anything that looks like this one on the internet. Where are you looking?

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 11 years ago

Hi Jason. Yuck on the combining of the Homoptera and Hemiptera. They just don't belong together in my mind. Oh well. Everything changes.
Thanks again.

bayucca
bayucca 11 years ago

Uups, Jason is a Planthopperman... Let's see what he means ;-)...

bayucca
bayucca 11 years ago

Cicadellidae, Proconiini, Cyrtadisca major. Sorry, no electronic reference.

JasonCryan
JasonCryan 11 years ago

No worries, Lauren! Happy to help out! One other correction, though....."Homoptera" has been shown to be paraphyletic....hoppers are now considered to be in the order Hemiptera!

Cheers!

LaurenZarate
LaurenZarate 11 years ago

Thank you Jason for the correction. Much appreciated.

JasonCryan
JasonCryan 11 years ago

Hi Lauren! Nice photos! These aren't planthoppers, though...they are
"sharpshooters"...leafhoppers in the family Cicadellidae (tribe Proconiini, I think, but I don't know the genus or species, sorry!).

LaurenZarate
Spotted by
LaurenZarate

Chiapas, Mexico

Spotted on Nov 21, 2012
Submitted on Nov 27, 2012

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