ARTHROPOD MUSEUM NOTES
Number 82 • April 7, 2011 • Jeffrey K. Barnes
Green coneheaded planthopper
Genus and species: Acanolonia conica (Say)
Acanalonia conica is a beautiful, bright green species less than half an inch long. It is laterally compressed and has triangular fore wings bearing a network of veins. It looks very much like some species of Flatidae, but it lacks the parallel veins along the leading, costal margin of the fore wing that are characteristic of that family. It ranges from New England to Florida and west to Nebraska and Texas. Recently it has been found in Italy, and it is regarded as a potential pest species in Europe.
The green coneheaded planthopper is polyphagous, feeding on a wide variety of native and cultivated trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and grasses. However, populations are usually small and incapable of inflicting serious damage on their host plants. The species has only one generation each year. Eggs are produced in late summer and early autumn. They are inserted into woody plant tissues, where they spend the winter. Nymphal stages are hump-backed, covered with long, white, waxy filaments and, like the adults, they produce a considerable amount of honeydew. Nymphs can be found feeding in assemblages of both Acanaloniidae and Flatidae.