Hemiptera ID?

[superfreak]

any clue what this thing is? found in Australian outback!! lol

any ideas?

 

[Peter Clausen]

Looks more Homopteran to me...maybe fulgoridae.

From the underside shot, it looked like many damselfly naiads I've seen.

Fun photo!

 

[Katnapper]

Wow... what a bug! The underside reminds me of prehistoric fossils they find in rocks that I've seen pics of. Neat!

 

[superfreak]

It is a bit odd, isnt it?

 

[Orin]

It is a bit odd, isnt it?

It's neat but doesn't look especially odd for a planthopper. The underside looks similar to our related cicadas and planthoppers though the ovipositor is longer than usual.How many millimeters is it?

 

[sidewinder]

Olga,

The species is Ledromorpha planirostris and is Australia's largest leafhopper. Up to 28mm. No male has ever been seen so the species may be parthenogenetic. The original scientific name was Fulgora planirostris.

Order: Hemiptera

Suborder: Auchenorrhyncha

Infraorder: Cicadomorpha

Superfamily: Membracoidea

Family: Cicadellidae

Subfamily: Ledrinae

Genus: Ledromorpha

Species: planirostris

Scott

 

[Peter Clausen]

Interesting, I was checking up on this Hemiptera stuff because this is the second time that somebody said these were Hemiptera and wikipedia had said that too. Now I've come to learn that Homoptera has now been dropped into Hemiptera.

And termites are roaches! What's this world coming to?

All in the name of progress.

 

[sidewinder]

Peter,

Hemiptera is made up of Heteroptera (true bugs) and what used to be Homoptera which is now split into Auchenorrhyncha and Sternorrhyncha. So your Homoptera comment was spot on....just not up to date! But hold on, tomorrow might bring another change and you could be up to date again.

Yes, recent evidence suggests that Isoptera arose from within Blattodea. Mantodea is a sister group to Blattodea + Isoptera. It's hard to imagine mantids so closely related to termites.

Anyone have a headache yet?

Scott

 

[Peter Clausen]

This is why bugs are the most interesting part of nature. There is no fathomable end to their diversity and hardly a beginning to our understanding of them. Of course, we must give things names if we are going to refer to them in discussions, so it's worth the headache!

 

[superfreak]

Cheers Scott!

I had someone identify it on whatsthatbug.com

they obviously used the same source as you as they said exactly the same thing!

its about 2-3 cm long. i guess i thought it was odd as i havnt had a chance to get a good look at the smaller planthoppers. our cicadas look quite different from this. they look like...well, cicadas. this thing has some resemblence, being in the same phylogenetic group but doesnt look like anything i have seen previously. maybe i need to get out more.

 

[sidewinder]

Olga,

I had seen Ledromorpha planirostris before I just didn't remember where. So I dug around the Internet for a while until I found it's picture along with the scientific name. I came across the scientific name several times with no pictures but I finally found the picture and the name together. It being the largest leafhopper in Australia means L. planirostris is commonly referenced. Not to mention the interesting history behind the person, Donovan, that discovered the species in regards to drawings of a male example of the species that never existed. Kind of a entomological soap opera...

As far as getting out more is concerned, you are never going to see every species you think you should see and you won't always know all the species you think you should....there are just too many!!

Scott