Hoppers of North Carolina:
Spittlebugs, Leafhoppers, Treehoppers, and Planthoppers

Welcome to the "Hoppers of North Carolina" website!

Scientific Name: Search Common Name:
Family (Alpha):




Platycotis vittata



Graphocephala coccinea



Texananus majestus



Bandara curvata



Thamnotettix confinis

Pendarus stipatus

Lepyronia angulifera

Osbornellus consors

Megamelus lobatus

Otiocerus kirbyii

Aims of this website
This website aims to provide a compendium of all of the leafhopper, planthopper, treehopper, and spittlebug species recorded in North Carolina, serving as not only an interactive photographic online guide but also a database for hemipteran hoppers in North Carolina. This site includes: photographs of species photographed in the state, information on species' identification, general information about the distribution of species in the state (by county) and their relative abundance, the seasonal occurrence for each species and which habitats, host plant associates, as well as additional comments on the species (such as differentiating between similar species or notable facts). County maps of occurrence are provided for each species.

How to navigate the website:
There are several ways to view species' accounts. Perhaps the most useful and interactive method is searching via the Family Photo Gallery, accessible on the left of the page in the menu. This family page displays all of the families, or in some cases, subfamilies of hoppers and includes pictures that represent species within these groups, for identifying purposes. Once a family or subfamily page is clicked on, it will display pictures representing all of the species in the state for which we have photographs.

Another way to access species' accounts is to start typing the scientific name in the Search Scientific Name field or, if a common name exists, the common name is the Search Common Name field; this can be done either on the Home page or the General Search page. Names of species appear on the screen, so click on the correct species that you want so that the full name appears in the field box; then click Find (to the right). Once you are at a species' account, you can navigate to the previous species in the checklist sequence by clicking on the Broad-headed Sharpshooter on the left, or to the next species in the checklist order by clicking on the Broad-headed Sharpshooter on the right. A third way to get to another species (within the same Family) is to click the down arrow on the box to the right of Family (Alpha); then click on the species of interest in a given family.

As indicated at the top of each species map on the website, a user can click on a county that is colored (i.e., not white) and see the records for that county for the given species that have been entered, either representing recent or historical records. However, this should not be assumed to be all of the known records of species for a county. These records only represent ones that have been entered recently, or come from literature or historical collections that the author of this website has been able to access.

How to Identify a Hopper:
If you are unsure of a species, you can search the interactive photographic key, which shows the best picture of each species for which we have photographs of. A link to this key can be found in the menu on the left side of the page. The family photo page is laid out in a way to best allow the user to view other species in the same taxonomic group and use the pictures presented to help determine the species of interest to view. Clicking on a photograph will lead you to the species' account page.

How to Become a Citizen Scientist and Enter a Record:
One of our main aims is to involve the public in documenting the distribution and habitat associations of the state’s hopper fauna. Compared to other insect taxa, hoppers are not well studied and therefore there is much to learn about the distribution and abundance of species in the state, let alone how many species can be found here in North Carolina. We therefore welcome records from anyone that wishes to submit for species observed in North Carolina, to help fill in knowledge gaps. Information on how to submit records and the details we need to vet the records are included in the Citizen Science tab on the main menu bar located at the top of the Home Page. The family photo gallery can be used to identify a species before being entered as a record, if the identification is not already known. However, for species that are not known, these records can be uploaded on the Enter Record page as an Unidentified Spittlebug, Leafhopper, Treehopper, or Planthopper. The administrators of this website will then try to identify the photographed specimen. Once vetted and approved by the administrators, records will appear in the Recent Entries.

Hope you enjoy using the website! If you have any questions, please email Kyle.

Stats:
Number of species entered on this site: 869
Number of species reported for the state: 893
Number of records: 36,496

Clicking on a county returns a list of its species.
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Citation: Kittelberger, K. and T. Howard. 2024. Hoppers of North Carolina: Spittlebugs, Leafhoppers, Treehoppers, and Planthoppers [Internet].
Raleigh (NC): North Carolina Biodiversity Project and North Carolina State Parks. Available from https://auth1.dpr.ncparks.gov/bugs/index.php.