Planthopper facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Planthopper |
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| Phromnia rosea (Flatidae) adults and nymphs |
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Scientific classification  |
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Suborder: | Auchenorrhyncha |
| Infraorder: | Fulgoromorpha Evans, 1946 |
Planthoppers are insects in the infraorder Fulgoromorpha. They are true bugs (Hemiptera), with over 12,500 described species.
They are cryptic mimics: their body shape and colours look like leaves and other plant parts in their environment. They either walk very slowly or hop like grasshoppers.
Members of this group are plant-feeders, and live world-wide. Few are pests, but some are vectors for plant diseases. Phytoplasmas which live in the phloem of plants can be transmitted by planthoppers when feeding.
Their nymphs have a biological gear mechanism at the base of the hind legs, which keeps the legs in synchrony when the insects jump.
In popular culture
The planthopper is mentioned in a key scene from Alfred Hitchcock's film Marnie:
- "In Kenya, there is quite a beautiful flower – rather like a hyacinth. If you should reach out to touch it, you would discover that the flower is not a flower at all, but a design made up of hundreds of tiny insects called flatid bugs. They escape the eyes of hungry birds by living and dying in the shape of a flower".
Images for kids
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Metcalfa pruinosa (Flatidae)
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Flatolystra verrucosa (Fulgoridae)
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nymphal Dictyophara europaea (Dictyopharidae)
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Pyrops candelaria (Fulgoridae)
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Paropioxys jucundus (Eurybrachidae)
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Siphanta acuta (Flatidae)
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Euricania facialis (Ricaniidae)
See also
In Spanish: Fulgoromorpha para niños
