Hoppers of North Carolina

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

Family (Alpha):

MEMBRACIDAE Members:	NC Records
Cyrtolobus discoidalis - No Common Name

Taxonomy

Family: MEMBRACIDAE

Subfamily: Smiliinae

Identification

Online Photographs: BugGuide, GBIF iNaturalist Google
Description: A brown to blackish species in which variation may result in individuals of each sex resembling the other. Males are dark, typically ranging from reddish testaceous to black, with prominent whitish vittae diagonally across the pronotum, with a thicker transverse band near the apex; the lateral margins of the pronotum closer to the head are also whitish. There is a prominent, clear hyaline patch on each side of the pronotum, above the vittae. The face is a pinkish testaceous color, and the underside of the body is black; legs are pale with the femora black above. The forewings are slightly enfumed, being dark fuscous at the tips. Females are yellowish to orange-brown, ranging to a dark brown color similar to some males, with whitish to yellowish-white vittae that are similar in extent to males; the central whitish line across the pronotum is edged with brown along the posterior margin. The tegmina is yellowish-hyaline with light brown tips. The underside of the thorax is ferruginous, the abdomen is flavous; the legs are yellowish with the femora marked above with brown. Adult males are 4-5 (up to 5.6 ) mm long, females are 5-6 mm and 2.8 mm wide (FSCA). (Kopp, 1973)

Distribution in North Carolina

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

Out of State Record(s)

Distribution: Eastern and central North America (FSCA)

Abundance: Rare, a couple records from the Piedmont and Coastal Plain.

Seasonal Occurrence

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

Habitats and Life History

Habitats:

Plant Associates: Laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia) (FSCA); also red oak, bur oak, black oak and white oak (Kopp, 1973).

Behavior: Can be attracted at night with a light.

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: This species is most similar to and could be confused with Cyrtolobus fuliginosus, in particular the females of both species. However, there are subtle differences in the shape and pattern of the pronotum between the two species, with the pronotum of C. fuliginosus a bit more peaked and rounded than in discoidalis. Additionally, there is a clear hyaline patch located dorsally on the sides of the pronotum above the white line (more pronounced in males) in discoidalis; this patch is absent in fuliginosus.

Status: Native

Global and State Rank:

Species Photo Gallery for Cyrtolobus discoidalis No Common Name
	Photo by: Kyle Kittelberger, Brian Bockhahn, Paul Scharf Halifax Co. Comment:	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 5.1 mm female trapped in Tanglefoot on a a tree band on Quercus phellos
	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 5.1 mm female trapped in Tanglefoot on a a tree band on Quercus phellos	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 5.1 mm female trapped in Tanglefoot on a a tree band on Quercus phellos
	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 5.1 mm female trapped in Tanglefoot on a a tree band on Quercus phellos	Photo by: Ken Kneidel Mecklenburg Co. Comment: 5.1 mm female trapped in Tanglefoot on a a tree band on Quercus phellos
	Photo by: Matt Wallace Out Of State Co. Comment: male and female	Photo by: Matt Wallace Out Of State Co. Comment: male and female
	Photo by: Mark Shields Onslow Co. Comment: female	Photo by: Mark Shields Onslow Co. Comment:

Cyrtolobus discoidalis - No Common Name

Species Photo Gallery for Cyrtolobus discoidalis No Common Name