Review of 2019 and 2020 - Leafhoppers part 7: subfamily Typhlocybinae III

LEAFHOPPERS (CICADELLIDAE) continued


SUBFAMILY TYPHLOCYBINAE (continued)


Fagocyba carri - One to light at the meadows on 7th August 2020 and one in the garden moth trap on 22nd September 2020.  None in 2019 but I caught 3 here in 2018 (and one at the meadows).  I also got round to identifying one from Wiveton Downs in 2016 which I had retained for checking (but didn't at that time know how).  The RES key seems to imply that cruenta can be yellow or brownish-grey whereas carri is always yellow, but this is at odds with my experience.  I don't think I've ever caught a cruenta that hasn't been yellow (some are strong deep yellow while others are washed out whitish yellow) but carri appears to be much more variable.  The 4 carri I found in 2018 were all yellow appearing identical to cruenta but 2 of the 3 featured here (one from 2020 and the recently-identified one from 2016) were brown, and the other one from 2020 was intermediate.  All of these brown or intermediate individuals had the pigment pretty much restricted to the top and centre of the wing, the costal region below being clear.

male Fagocyba carri, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 7th August 2020

female Fagocyba carri, North Elmham, 22nd September 2020 - showing seventh abdominal sternum and ovipositor

female Fagocyba carri, Wiveton Downs, 26th October 2016 (identified in 2021)

Fagocyba cruenta - 2 on my beach hedge on 21st June 2019 followed by a total of 9 in my moth trap up to 14th October.  A total of 12 caught in my garden moth trap between 23rd June and 7th November 2020.  Also recorded at Swanton Great Wood and Row Heath (West Runton) in late August 2019 and in Cornwall in October 2020.  Quite a bit of variation in the intensity of yellow (males may average brighter but a lot of overlap):

male Fagocyba cruenta, North Elmham, 29th June 2019

female Fagocyba cruenta, North Elmham, 10th October 2019

female Fagocyba cruenta, North Elmham, 1st October 2019

female Fagocyba cruenta, North Elmham, 14th October 2019

male Fagocyba cruenta, North Elmham, 28th June 2020

female Fagocyba cruenta, North Elmham, 23rd July 2020

Edwardsiana sp. - Another tricky genus where for the most part at least, females can't be identified.  8 females caught in my moth trap in 2019 and 3 in 2020, plus a few elsewhere.  Also 2 males I couldn't resolve as their genitalia didn't quite match any of the species.  One was probably a mal-formed rosae but the other was a complete mystery as I couldn't find its aedeagus.  The following males were satisfactorily identified.


Edwardsiana crataegi - None.  I've caught and identified this species here once, in 2018.


Edwardsiana flavescens - None.  I've caught and identified this species here once, in 2017.


Edwardsiana geometrica - None.  I've caught this relatively distinctive species here once, in 2016.


Edwardsiana lethierryi - A male caught in the garden moth trap on 29th August 2020.  I've caught this species here once before and once at the meadows, both in 2018.

male Edwardsiana lethierryi, North Elmham, 29th August 2020 - showing aedeagus at different orientations

Edwardsiana prunicola - One on willow at the Cathedral Meadows on 21st June 2019 was the first I identified of this species.

male Edwardsiana prunicola, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 21st June 2019 - showing aedeagus at different orientations

Edwardsiana rosae - A male in my moth trap on 2nd July 2019 was the first time I've identified this species in my garden although it's the Edwardsiana I've identified most often elsewhere (including one at the meadows in 2018).  3 caught in Cornwall in early October 2020 - I'd caught 3 here in 2018 too.

male Edwardsiana rosae, North Elmham, 2nd July 2019

male Edwardsiana rosae, Tresidder (Cornwall), 6th October 2020 - showing aedeagus at different orientations

male Edwardsiana rosae, Tresidder (Cornwall), 6th October 2020 - second individual

Edwardsiana spinigera - A new species for me in 2020 but 4 males caught in the garden moth trap between 1st and 16th July.

male Edwardsiana spinigera, North Elmham, 2nd July 2020

male Edwardsiana spinigera, North Elmham, 3rd July 2020 - showing aedeagus at different orientations

Edwardsiana ulmiphagus - One in my garden moth trap on 14th June 2020 was a new leafhopper for me.  It was followed by 3 in Cornwall on 6th-7th October.  This species keys to Edwardsiana hippocastani using the RES key but if I understand other sources correctly this is now known as Edwardsiana ulmiphagus.

male Edwardsiana ulmiphagus, North Elmham, 14th June 2020 - showing aedeagus at different orientations

Alnetoidea alneti - Singles in my garden moth trap on 12th July and 16th August 2019.  Athough I had seen this species before I had forgotten how similar they are to Fagocyba and Edwardsiana spp.

female Alnetoidea alneti, North Elmham, 12th July 2019

male Alnetoidea alneti, North Elmham, 16th August 2019

Arboridia ribauti - Singles in my garden moth trap on 14th August and 30th October 2020, my second and third records following one here in 2018.

Arboridia ribauti, North Elmham, 14th August 2020

Arboridia ribauti, North Elmham, 30th October 2020

Next page: more Leafhoppers plus

Not-so-Scarce Umbers

A quick wander along the railway at the bottom of the meadows after dark on 8th November turned up a few interesting things.  There wasn't much flying but the eye-shine drew my attendtion to this Satellite.

Satellite, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th November

The only other moth I found was a London Dowd Blastobasis lacticolella resting in some Gorse.  The Broom wasn't as productive as it can be, but there was a Broom Psyllid Arytaina genistae. As is often the case, the Oak trunks produced a better variety including the springtail Orchesella cincta, Great Four-spot Treerunner Dromius quadrimaculatus (a beetle), Harlequin Ladybird Harmonia axyridis and White-legged Snake Millipede Tachypodoiulus niger.

Orchesella cincta, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th November

Great Four-spot Treerunner Dromius quadrimaculatus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th November

I also found a bug which at the time I identified as my first Anthocoris confusus.  However I subsequently recorded more Anthocoris along here and when I was figuring out the next one that I realised I was mis-reading the description of one of the features, and it turned out to be nemoralis.  Now there's no reason to assume I made the same mistake when examining the confusus, but as none of the subsequent examples so far have been confusus I'm left feeling less than 100% sure that I didn't make a mistake.  So I am deleting this record until such time as I find another.

There was one lifer for which I'm still ok with the ID though, not that it's a group that I have much experience with - a Variegated Oak Aphild Lachnus roboris.

Variegated Oak Aphid Lachnus roboris, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th November

The moths in the garden trap that night were 3 Narrow-winged Greys Eudonia angustea, White-point, 2 Sprawlers, 2 Green-brindled Crescents, 2 Chestnuts and Yellow-line Quaker.

The following night there was Garden Rose Tortrix Acleris variegana, 2 Pale November Moths, a female November Moth agg., 2 Feathered Thorns, 2 Mottled Umbers, Sprawler, Chestnut, 3 Yellow-line Quakers and the caddisflies 4 Limnephilus lunatus and Limnephilus flavicornis.

Mottled Umber, North Elmham, 9th November

Just 4 Feathered Thorns and a Setaceous Hebrew Character the following night.  Next day there was a Common Mompha Mompha epilobiella in my hall, and in the trap Diamond-back Plutella xylostella, Rusty Oak Button Acleris ferrugana, Sprawler, Chestnut and 2 Yellow-line Quakers.

Rusty Oak Button Acleris ferrugana (male, gen det), North Elmham, 11th November

The Mottled Umber shown above was, I would say, at the Scarce Umber end of the scale - the sort that could reasonably be confused with Scarce Umber.  In fact I checked the genitalia just to make sure.  Three nights later there were some real Scarce Umbers - 3 no less.  I've never caught 3 in one night before and with a blank year in 2017 these were my first since 2016.

Scarce Umbers, North Elmham, 12th November

Other things that night were 2 Light Brown Apple-moths Epiphyas postvittana, December Moth, November Moth, Pale November Moth and Satellite.

The following night there was November Moth, Yellow-line Quaker, the caddisfly Limnephilus lunatus and a Common Wasp.

The 14th was another quiet night for moths with just 2 December Moths, 3 Feathered Thorns and Setaceous Hebrew Character. There were also 2 caddisflies Limnephilus lunatus and, for the first time in a while, a fresh emergence of leafhoppers.  All were similar yellow leafhoppers which normally prove to be either one of the two Fagocyba species (usually cruenta) or one of the several Edwardsiana species.  A couple of these had cloudier apexes of their wings compared to the others so I wondered if two species might be involved, but in fact although two species were involved, the variation in the cloudiness of the wing tips was all within a single species.  They consisted of 1 Fagacyba carri and 6 Fagocyba cruenta.

Fagocyba carri (male, gen det), North Elmham, 12th November

Fagocyba cruenta (3 males, gen det), North Elmham, 12th November

Next day there were 2 Light Brown Apple-moths Epiphyas postvittana, Ashy Button Acleris sparsana, 3 December Moths, probable November Moth, Mottled Umber, White-point, Sprawler, the caddisfly Limnephilus lunatus, Black Sexton Beetle Nicrophorus humator and 2 more Fagocyba cruenta.

On 16th I had another after-dark look round the meadows with the head-torch.  This leafmine appears to belong to Common Oak Pigmy Stigmella roborella.  The larva was in there but motionless and I'm not convinced it was alive.

leafmine of Common Oak Pigmy Stigmella roborella, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th November

The only adult moth I could find was a Winter Moth, my fisrt of the winter.

Winter Moth, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th November

There were also 3 of the barkflies Ectopsocus briggsi, the beetle Great Four-spot Treerunner Dromius quadrimaculatus, 3 7-spot Ladybirds Coccinella septempunctata, and a Common Rough Woodlouse Porcellio scaber.

Ectopsocus briggsi, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th November

Two different Oak trunks had these odd ant-like insects on.  It was clear enough that they weren't actually ants but apart from assuming they were some kind of hymenoptera I couldn't figure out what they were.  I tweeted some photos and received a response from Simon Knott who confirmed they were gall wasps of the family Cynipidae, likely to be Biorhiza pallida agamic female.  Looking into that and comparing with the specimens it looks bang-on, so my first Oak Apple Gall Wasps Biorhiza pallida.

Oak Apple Gall Wasps Biorhiza pallida, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th November

A particularly fine set of fungi was this Sulphur Knight.  I had a pretty good idea about what these were already but James Emerson has been brilliant helping me with fungus IDs lately - always very much appreciated.  These looked a little more lemony-yellow in life (albeit only in torchlight) than they do in the photos.

Sulphur Knight, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th November