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Hoppers of Zihuatanejo

SUBORDER AUCHENORRYNCHA

-Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

-Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda)

-Hexapods (Subphylum Hexapoda)

-Insects (Class Insecta)

-Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

-True Bugs, Hoppers, Aphids, and Allies (Order Hemiptera)

-True Hoppers (Suborder Auchenorrhyncha)

-Spittlebugs, Cicadas, Leafhoppers and Treehoppers (Infraorder Cicadomorpha)

-Spittlebugs and Froghoppers (Superfamily Cercopoidea)

-Froghoppers (Family Cercopidae)

-Subfamily Ischnorhininae

-Tribe Tomaspidini

-Genus Aeneolamia

-Aeneolamia albofasciata


Aeneolamia albofasciata is a species of froghopper (family Cercopidae) found in parts of Central and South America, known for its distinctive creamy-white transverse band across otherwise dark forewings. Like other froghoppers, its immature stage lives close to the ground among grasses and other host plants, where it produces a frothy mass or “spittle” that protects it from desiccation and predators. It feeds on plant sap by piercing stems with its slender mouthparts, and its secretions form the foamy shelter that is a hallmark of spittlebugs.

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Aeneolamia albofasciata

Description

  • Aeneolamia albofasciata is a small to medium-sized spittlebug in the family Cercopidae. Adults are about 7–9 mm long, with a dark brown to black head, pronotum, and scutellum and dark forewings marked by one or two contrasting yellowish or white transverse bands. The nymphs live within protective masses of frothy plant sap, characteristic of spittlebugs.

Range

  • Aeneolamia albofasciata is widely distributed in Mexico, occurring across much of the country, including Guerrero and other Pacific-slope states. It also extends northward into the southwestern United States and southward into Central America as far as Costa Rica.

Habitat

  • It is primarily associated with grass-dominated habitats, including pastures, savannas, agricultural areas, roadsides, and open tropical vegetation. It can be particularly abundant in areas containing cultivated or introduced forage grasses and other suitable Poaceae.

Diet

  • Aeneolamia albofasciata feeds by sucking plant sap, primarily from grasses. Recorded host plants include sugarcane, buffelgrass, guinea grass, Bermuda grass, Rhodes grass, Paspalum, and rice, while adults may occasionally occur on non-grass plants such as alfalfa. It is an important pest of pasture grasses and sugarcane in parts of Mexico.

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