Hoppers of North Carolina

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

Family (Alpha):

CICADELLIDAE Members:	NC Records
Driotura gammaroides - No Common Name

Taxonomy

Family: CICADELLIDAE	Subfamily: Deltocephalinae	Tribe: Chiasmini
Taxonomic Author: (Van Duzee, 1894)

Identification

Online Photographs: BugGuide, GBIF iNaturalist Google

Description: A species with a robust, short head and a shining black coloration. Adults are brachypterous, meaning they have short wings. The pronotum and abdomen are also short (abdomen is inflated in females), with the pronotum being three times as wide as long. Rarely does this species have macropterous, long-winged adults. The eyes are black with silver-speckles, and the legs are orange with dark feet. The female pregenital sternite is broadly and convexly rounded. The male subgenital plates have the outer margins convexly rounded to bluntly-tipped apices. Adults are 3 to 4 mm long. (Lawson, 1920; DeLong, 1948)

There is a uniformly reddish-brown form with the last segment of the abdomen and ovipositor dark, and the eyes and ocelli dark too. This form is known as D. gammaroides var. fulva and primarily occurs in the western and central U.S. (Lawson, 1920)

Another form, D. gammaroides var. flava, has a black vertex, pronotum and basal section of the abdomen, but the wings and final two or three segments of the abdomen are yellow (DeLong, 1948).

Distribution in North Carolina

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

Distribution: An uncommon species found widely across much of North America (3I).

Abundance: Infrequently encountered, rare- recorded from a few counties in the Piedmont; possibly more abundant in the right habitat.

Seasonal Occurrence

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

Habitats and Life History

Habitats: Recorded in field/forest edge habitat.

Plant Associates: Grindelia ssp. (Lawson, 1920)

Behavior:

Comment:

Status: Native

Global and State Rank:

Species Photo Gallery for Driotura gammaroides No Common Name
	Photo by: Rob Van Epps Mecklenburg Co. Comment: Caught sweeping in a field. There were several black individuals and this one var. "fulva".	Photo by: Rob Van Epps Iredell Co. Comment: Caught sweeping in grassy/weedy field.
	Photo by: Rob Van Epps Iredell Co. Comment: Caught sweeping in grassy/weedy field.	Photo by: Scott Bolick Randolph Co. Comment:
	Photo by: Scott Bolick Randolph Co. Comment:	Photo by: Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn, Paul Scharf Vance Co. Comment: Field/forest edge habitat. The first image shows a color variety
	Photo by: Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn, Paul Scharf Vance Co. Comment: Field/forest edge habitat. The first image shows a color variety	Photo by: Paul Scharf, Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn Vance Co. Comment: Caught sweeping
	Photo by: Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn, Paul Scharf Vance Co. Comment: Field/forest edge habitat. The first image shows a color variety	Photo by: Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn, Paul Scharf Vance Co. Comment: Field/forest edge habitat. The first image shows a color variety
	Photo by: Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn, Paul Scharf Vance Co. Comment: Field/forest edge habitat	Photo by: Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn, Paul Scharf Vance Co. Comment: Field/forest edge habitat

Driotura gammaroides - No Common Name

Species Photo Gallery for Driotura gammaroides No Common Name