saddleback leafhopper

(Colladonus clitellarius)

Conservation Status
saddleback leafhopper
Photo by Alfredo Colon
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

not listed

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Saddleback leafhopper is a medium-sized, easily recognized leafhopper. It is very common in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and in adjacent Canadian provinces. It is a vector of eastern X-disease of peach.

Adults are 3 16 to ¼ (5 to 6 mm) long. Females on average are ¼ (5.70 mm) long, males a little smaller, 3 16 (5.19 mm) long. The body is flattened laterally and tapered, appearing somewhat wedge-shaped from above. Coloration is variable. It is usually black to brown with mostly yellow and some ivory markings. Some individuals are light brown with mostly ivory markings. The underside is yellow.

The head is about as wide as the exoskeletal plate covering the thorax (pronotum). The crown of the head, the only part visible when viewed from above, is ivory, rounded in front, slightly curved at the back, and widest at the middle. On the front margin there are two distinct, round, black spots. On the back margin there is a narrow black band. There are two large compound eyes and two tiny simple eyes (ocelli). The face, not visible from above, is yellowish-ivory. The antennae are short and bristle-like.

The pronotum has a dark brown band at the base (behind the head) followed by a broad yellow or ivory band. It does not extend over the abdomen and the lateral margins are slightly curved. The plate between the wing bases (scutellum) is large, triangular, and dark brown to black.

There are two pairs of wings, and they are held tent-like, almost vertically over the body when at rest. The forewings (hemelytra) are thickened, are longer than the body, and completely cover the sides of the body. The hemelytra are comprised of a narrow area (clavus) behind the scutellum when the hemelytra are closed; and the remaining, broad, marginal area (corium). There is a distinct yellow spot on the clavus that is widened near the front. The marginal area of the corium is transparent (hyaline). The hindwings are thin, membranous, a little shorter than the hemelytra, and concealed beneath the hemelytra.

The legs entirely yellowish ivory. The last part of the leg (tarsus), corresponding to a foot, has three segments.

 
     
 

Size

 
 

Total length: 3 16 to ¼ (5 to 6 mm)

Male: 3 16 (5.19 mm)

Female: ¼ (5.70 mm)

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
  Leafhopper (Colladonus furculatus) is so similar to C. clitellarius that they can only be distinguished by examining the genitalia. Complicating matters, their ranges overlap in eastern and central United States. However, C. clitellarius is very common and C. furculatus is rare. C. furculatus has not been collected in Minnesota but it has been collected in Ontario, Wisconsin, and Iowa.  
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Hardwood forests and forest edges

 
     
 
Biology
 
 

Season

 
 

Two generations per year: May through September

 
     
 

Behavior

 
 

Adults are attracted to light.

 
     
 

Life Cycle

 
 

Eggs are laid in late June by first generation females, late August by the second. Eggs of the second generation overwinter. Eggs of the first generation hatch in about two weeks.

 
     
 

Nymph Food

 
 

 

 
     
 

Adult Food

 
 

Plant juices from the leaves of many plants, especially willow, but also grape, wheat, chokecherry, lilac, poplar, goldenrod, boxelder, and honey locust.

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

24, 27, 29, 30.

 
  1/22/2019      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Very common

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
 

Order

Hemiptera (true bugs, hoppers, aphids, and allies)  
 

Suborder

Auchenorrhyncha (true hoppers)  
 

Infraorder

Cicadomorpha (spittlebugs, cicadas, leafhoppers and treehoppers)  
 

Superfamily

Membracoidea (leafhoppers and treehoppers)  
 

Family

Cicadellidae (typical leafhoppers)  
 

Subfamily

Deltocephalinae  
 

Tribe

Athysanini  
  Subtribe Platymetopiina  
 

Genus

Colladonus  
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Colladonus clitellaria

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

saddled leafhopper 

 
       

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Corium

The thickened basal portion of the front wing that lies between the clavus and the membrane of insects in the family Hemiptera. Plural: coria.

 

Hemelytron

The forewing of true bugs (Order Hemiptera), thickened at the base and membranous at the tip. Plural: hemelytra.

 

Ocellus

Simple eye; an eye with a single lens. Plural: ocelli.

 

Pronotum

The exoskeletal plate on the upper side of the first segment of the thorax of an insect.

 

Scutellum

The exoskeletal plate covering the rearward (posterior) part of the middle segment of the thorax in some insects. In Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Homoptera, the dorsal, often triangular plate behind the pronotum and between the bases of the front wings. In Diptera, the exoskeletal plate between the abdomen and the thorax.

 

Tarsus

On insects, the last two to five subdivisions of the leg, attached to the tibia; the foot. On spiders, the last segment of the leg. Plural: tarsi.

 

 

 

 

 

     
 
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  Alfredo Colon
6/11/2018

Location: Woodbury, Minnesota

saddleback leafhopper  
           
 
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Created: 1/23/2019

Last Updated:

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