Hoppers of North Carolina

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

Family (Alpha):

CICADELLIDAE Members:	NC Records
Curtara insularis - Ringspot Leafhopper

Taxonomy

Family: CICADELLIDAE

Subfamily: Iassinae

Tribe: Gyponini

Subgenus: Curtara

Taxonomic Author: (Caldwell & Martorell, 1952)

Identification

Online Photographs: BugGuide, GBIF iNaturalist Google

Description: This species is typically a pale brown color with many small dark brown spots. Males are typically heavily irrorate with dense, fine brown speckling across the vertex and pronotum; the elytra are brownish with distinctive pale venation and milky spots scattered irregularly across the wing cells. Females are typically much longer and lighter-colored than males, being grayish to cinereous in color with small fuscous speckling across the wings and body. The crown is more than twice as wide between the eyes as the median length, and is depressed behind the anterior margin. The male subgenital plates are elongate. The female pregenital sternite has produced rounded lateral angles, with the posterior margin roundedly excavated on either side of a produced median lobe, which has a small shallow notch. Adult males are 8 mm long, females are 8.5 mm. (Caldwell & Martorell 1952, DeLong & Freytag 1976)

Nymphs are a tan color overall, with a couple indistinct brown lines longitudinally across the dorsum.

See here for additional images: BG.

Distribution in North Carolina

County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.

Distribution: Native to the Caribbean, described from Puerto Rico (Caldwell & Martorell 1952, DeLong & Freytag 1976). Introduced in the United States, first reported from Florida in the late 2000s, with published records from 2009 and 2010 and Bugguide records from as early as 2004. Based on online photos on Bugguide and iNaturalist, this species appears to have since spread throughout the southeastern United States and into northern Mexico.

Abundance: A handful of records from the Piedmont and Coastal Plain; likely more abundant, especially since it is an expanding introduced species.

Seasonal Occurrence

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

Habitats and Life History

Habitats:

Plant Associates: Citrus plants

Behavior: Can be attracted at night with a light.

Comment: NOTE: For years, individuals pertaining to this species have been incorrectly labeled as representing a number of different Gyponine species, most recently being Negosiana miliaris due to visual association with pinned specimens that are now clearly misidentified as N. miliaris and similar matches with descriptions from the literature for miliaris. Curtara insularis, being such a recent arrival in the United States, does not appear in any of the literature for Gyponini in North America. While records north of Florida have not been specifically verified by specimen yet, diagrams of this species (wing, vertex, thorax, female pregenital sternite) are provided in Caldwell & Martorell (1952)- the specimens from North Carolina [and elsewhere in the East] are very clearly Curtara insularis, see page 17 here: Caldwell & Martorell 1952.

Furthermore, per J. Kits, this species is likely synonymous with Curtara samera, which was described from Brazil and Argentina. The genitalia for both species are virtually identical, and preliminary barcode work (which adds credence to the records here pertaining to C. insularis) shows that Florida specimens and those of C. samera from Argentina are genetically the same. (BG)

Status: Introduced

Global and State Rank:

Curtara insularis - Ringspot Leafhopper

Species Photo Gallery for Curtara insularis Ringspot Leafhopper

Species Photo Gallery for Curtara insularis Ringspot Leafhopper
	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 8.5 mm female came to UV light at night	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: female stuck in Tanglefoot on a tree band, active between mid December when the bands were put up and 1/12; the light oval area in the pronotum is an air pocket, probably created when pulled from the sticky Tanglefoot
	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: female stuck in Tanglefoot on a tree band, active between mid December when the bands were put up and 1/12; the light oval area in the pronotum is an air pocket, probably created when pulled from the sticky Tanglefoot	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: male stuck in a tree band put up in mid-December, hence active between then and 1/12
	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: male stuck in a tree band put up in mid-December, hence active between then and 1/12	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: male stuck in a tree band put up in mid-December, hence active between then and 1/12
	Photo by: Erich Hofmann New Hanover Co. Comment:	Photo by: Bo Sullivan Carteret Co. Comment: Female
	Photo by: Bo Sullivan Carteret Co. Comment: Female	Photo by: Bo Sullivan Carteret Co. Comment: Female
	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 7 mm male, stuck in Tanglefoot in a tree band on Willow Oak.	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 7 mm male, stuck in Tanglefoot in a tree band on Willow Oak.
	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 7 mm male, stuck in Tanglefoot in a tree band on Willow Oak.	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 7 mm male, stuck in Tanglefoot in a tree band on Willow Oak.
	Photo by: Cindy Darnell Durham Co. Comment: Attracted to yellow porch light.	Photo by: Cindy Darnell Durham Co. Comment: Attracted to yellow porch light.
	Photo by: Rob Van Epps Mecklenburg Co. Comment: Abersham Park. Caught sweeping.	Photo by: Rob Van Epps Mecklenburg Co. Comment: Abersham Park. Caught sweeping.
	Photo by: Erich Hofmann New Hanover Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/60970175	Photo by: Erich Hofmann New Hanover Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/60970175
	Photo by: Erich Hofmann New Hanover Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/60970175	Photo by: Erich Hofmann New Hanover Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/60970175
	Photo by: Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn, Paul Scharf New Hanover Co. Comment: marshy, reedy area; female, 8.0 mm	Photo by: Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn, Paul Scharf New Hanover Co. Comment: marshy, reedy area; female, 8.0 mm
	Photo by: Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn, Paul Scharf New Hanover Co. Comment: marshy, reedy area; female, 8.0 mm	Photo by: Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn, Paul Scharf New Hanover Co. Comment: marshy, reedy area; female, 8.0 mm
	Photo by: Robert Meehan Durham Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/33839056	Photo by: Mark Shields Onslow Co. Comment: unid_leafhopper
	Photo by: Cumberland Co. Comment: female; https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/35152274	Photo by: Erich Hofmann New Hanover Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/59240002
	Photo by: Erich Hofmann New Hanover Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/59240002	Photo by: Erich Hofmann New Hanover Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/59240002
	Photo by: Erich Hofmann New Hanover Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/62083684	Photo by: Erich Hofmann New Hanover Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/62083684
	Photo by: Erich Hofmann New Hanover Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/62083684