They’ve Got Hops

What am I looking at?

This is an image of two adult oak treehoppers (Platycotis vittata). You can see their compound eyes (1) and their large pronotum (the first segment of their thorax), which is a characteristic trait of all treehopper species and which forms a “helmet” (2) above their head and horn, extending backward to cover their abdomen.

Click on the right arrow to see additional views, including an adult with a nymph – an immature treehopper.

Biology in the background

Treehoppers can be found all over the globe (except in Antarctica), and they feed on the sap of trees. They are rather small insects but come in a variety of shapes. The part of their body responsible for the diversity of treehoppers’ forms is their pronotum. It can be shaped like a single horn, a pair of horns or antlers, a knobby crest, or a crescent. In some neotropical species, it forms an elaborate TV-antenna–like structure; in others, when viewed from above, it gives the insects an ant-like appearance.

Most commonly, treehoppers mimic some part of the plants they live on. Many are shaped and colored to look like fresh or dried-up leaves, while others are shaped like thorns or twig stumps. Because of this feature, there is a large group of treehoppers commonly known as “thorn bugs.” Their talent for mimicry helps them camouflage themselves from predators. In fact, their horns and antlers are never used in combat – meaning they aren’t sexually dimorphic (in other words, the appearance and anatomy of the males and females of the species are similar rather than different).

Treehoppers can vary in size, with the largest reaching up to 1.25 centimeters, or a little smaller than a human thumbnail.

Technique

These images were created using macrophotography.