Hoppers of North Carolina

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

Family (Alpha):

MEMBRACIDAE Members:	NC Records
Stictocephala brevitylus - No Common Name

Taxonomy

Family: MEMBRACIDAE	Subfamily: Smiliinae	Synonym: Ceresa brevitylus
Taxonomic Author: Walker

Identification

Online Photographs: BugGuide, GBIF iNaturalist Google
Description: A greenish species with prominent horns and light speckling across the pronotum. The tips of the horns and the ridge of the pronotum are reddish. The key characteristics of this species are the dark, reddish-brown legs and the black ventral sides of the thorax; this helps separate it from most other species in this genus that look similar. Females are 8-9 mm long, while males are 7-8 mm. For more, see FSCA.

Distribution in North Carolina

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

Distribution: Eastern North America

Abundance: Seasonal distribution: 5 April-2 July (CTNC)

Seasonal Occurrence

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

Habitats and Life History

Habitats: Has been found near mixed hardwood forest.

Plant Associates: Aster sp., Ceanothus sp., Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, Helianthus sp., Morus sp., Quercus falcata, Robinia pseudoacacia, Rubus argutus, Sarracenia flava, Smilax sp., Solanum tuberosum, Vaccinium sp., Vitis sp. (CTNC); also on Eupatorium capillifolium, Gleditsia triacanthos, Ostrya virginiana, Sambucus canadensis (CTGSMNP)

Behavior: To listen to the male courtship call for this genus, listen here. These courtship calls are not audible to the human ear, and the calls here are produced by recording the substrate vibrations that the treehoppers use to communicate through the plants themselves. The recorded call is then amplified so that it is now audible to human ears. Research has shown that treehoppers use vibrations to attract mates, to announce the discovery of a good feeding site, or to alert a defending mother to the approach of a predator (T.IM).

Comment: Many Stictocephala may not be identifiable from an image; this is a very difficult group of treehoppers to identify correctly (for many species). M. Rothschild notes that the only green Stictocephala in our region with dark ventral sides of the thorax are S. brevitylus and S. lutea, the latter of which lacks suprahumeral horns.

Status: Native

Global and State Rank:

Stictocephala brevitylus - No Common Name

Species Photo Gallery for Stictocephala brevitylus No Common Name

Species Photo Gallery for Stictocephala brevitylus No Common Name
	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 7 mm	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 7 mm
	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 7 mm	Photo by: Scott Bolick Guilford Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Scott Bolick Guilford Co. Comment:	Photo by: Simpson Eason Durham Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_treehopper	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_treehopper
	Photo by: Rob Van Epps Iredell Co. Comment:	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_leafhopper
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_leafhopper	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_leafhopper
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_leafhopper	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_leafhopper
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_treehopper	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_treehopper
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_treehopper	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_treehopper
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_leafhopper	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_leafhopper
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment:	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment:	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment:	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_planthopper
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_planthopper	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_planthopper
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_planthopper	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment: unid_planthopper
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment:	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment:	Photo by: Ted Wilcox Watauga Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Margarita Lankford Orange Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/122597912	Photo by: Margarita Lankford Orange Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/114410133
	Photo by: Margarita Lankford Orange Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/114410133	Photo by: Margarita Lankford Orange Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/114410133
	Photo by: Margarita Lankford Guilford Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/114026101	Photo by: Matthew Guilin Cabarrus Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Matthew Guilin Cabarrus Co. Comment:	Photo by: Matthew Guilin Cabarrus Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Scott Bolick Guilford Co. Comment:	Photo by: Scott Bolick Guilford Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Scott Bolick Guilford Co. Comment:	Photo by: Scott Bolick Randolph Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Scott Bolick Randolph Co. Comment:	Photo by: Scott Bolick Guilford Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Scott Bolick Guilford Co. Comment:	Photo by: Scott Bolick Guilford Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Margarita Lankford Chatham Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73979057	Photo by: Margarita Lankford Chatham Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73979057
	Photo by: Margarita Lankford Chatham Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73979057	Photo by: Margarita Lankford Chatham Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/73979057
	Photo by: Paul Scharf Warren Co. Comment: Caught while sweeping along Roadside in short cut grass in a mixed Hardwood area.	Photo by: Paul Scharf Warren Co. Comment: Caught while sweeping along Roadside in short cut grass in a mixed Hardwood area.
	Photo by: Tracy S. Feldman Wake Co. Comment: unid_treehopper	Photo by: Margarita Lankford Orange Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/47532918
	Photo by: Margarita Lankford Orange Co. Comment: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/47532918	Photo by: Erich Hofmann Craven Co. Comment: female
	Photo by: Erich Hofmann Craven Co. Comment: female	Photo by: Erich Hofmann Craven Co. Comment: female
	Photo by: Jim Petranka Madison Co. Comment: Resting on stem.	Photo by: Jim Petranka Madison Co. Comment: Resting on stem.
	Photo by: Paul Scharf Warren Co. Comment: Caught Sweeping	Photo by: Amanda Auxier Pender Co. Comment: Attracted to white CFL porch light.
	Photo by: Amanda Auxier Pender Co. Comment: Attracted to white CFL porch light.	Photo by: Amanda Auxier Pender Co. Comment: Attracted to white CFL porch light.
	Photo by: Paul Scharf Warren Co. Comment: Caught Sweeping	Photo by: Paul Scharf Warren Co. Comment: Caught Sweeping