Bramble Leafhopper

This is one of the most common leafhoppers, being usually found on brambles.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Ribautiana tenerrima
Family: 
Leafhoppers
Family Latin name: 
CICADELLIDAE
Category: 
Insects other

Species description

Species description

This is one of the most common leafhoppers, being usually found on brambles. It is abundant throughout the UK. It is seen from June to December. Its length is usually between 3 and 3.5 millimetres.

The three dark dots on the wing margins are characteristic.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)

Details

Species family information

Leafhoppers are the second-largest family in the order of hemipteran insects, having perhaps 20,000 members distributed across the planet. They are plant-feeders that suck sap. Their hind legs give them the ability to jump long distances relative to their size, as can be appreciated in the accompanying single photograph.

Category information

Insects evolved in the Ordovician from a crustacean ancestral lineage as terrestrial invertebrates with six legs (the Hexapoda). This was the time when terrestrial plants first appeared. In the Devonian some insects developed wings and flight, the first animals to do so. An early flying group was the Odonata from the Carboniferous, the damselflies and dragonflies, which have densely-veined wings and long, ten-segmented bodies. They are day-flying carnivores, with an aquatic larval stage, so are commonly seen flying near water. The carnivorous larvae are called nymphs. Odonata species are short-lived, damselflies surviving for 2-4 weeks, dragonflies for up to 2 months.

Some insect groups in the Cretaceous co-evolved with the flowering plants, and they have had a close association ever since. These groups are the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), the Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), the Diptera (flies), and the Coleoptera (beetles). The diversity of beetles is astonishing. Of all the known animal species on the planet, one in five is a beetle!