SUBFAMILY IASSINAE
Iassus lanio - This species is common here, recorded on several nights in each of the last 4 years with a peak of 4-5 in a night, but the flight period is usually fairly short - all but one of my records fall in July. In 2019 they were compressed into one week, recorded on 6 nights between 19th and 25th July, a bit later than in 2017 (4th to 21st) or 2018 (5th to 20th). They were a bit more spread out in 2020 with 5 between 1st and 26th July and then a late one on 20th August. Also 2 to light at the Cathedral Meadows on 26th July 2019 and about 30 there on 18th July 2020. Elsewhere one at Bintree Wood on 24th July 2020. I haven't kept data on forms but the green form is usually commoner than the brown ones shown below which seem to be the only ones I got sharable photos of these years.
Iassus lanio, North Elmham, 19th July 2019
Iassus lanio, North Elmham, 20th August 2020
SUBFAMILY MACROPSINAE
Oncopsis flavicollis - 3 in the garden moth trap on each of the 1st & 2nd June 2019, plus one on 23rd June. Slightly more numerous in 2020 with 7 between 20th May and 26th July. Also one on Downy Birch at the meadows on 24th June 2019 and one to light at Bintree Wood on 13th June 2020. Given the variation in face pattern I resorted to checking the genitalia on a few of each species of Oncopsis, just to make sure I was on the right track.
Oncopsis flavicollis, North Elmham, 1st June 2019
male Oncopsis flavicollis, North Elmham, 20th May 2020
male Oncopsis flavicollis, North Elmham, 16th June 2020
female Oncopsis flavicollis, North Elmham, 26th June 2020 - is this yellow form unique to female flavicollis or can subangulata look like this too?
Oncopsis subangulata - Singles in the garden moth trap on 30th May 2019 and 12th June and 4th July 2020. I've recorded this species slightly less often than Oncopsis flavicollis and only ever one at a time (whereas I've caught up to 4 flavicollis at a time). With some of my earlier records I'm not sure I always 100% eliminated a poorly-marked flavicollis but more recently I've been checking the genitalia where there's any doubt.
male Oncopsis subangulata, North Elmham, 12th June 2020 - showing the equal-pronged aedaegus basal supports
male Oncopsis subangulata, North Elmham, 4th July 2020
Macropsis scotti - None. I found one of these at the meadows in 2018.
Macropsis sp. - I found this extraordinary-looking leafhopper nymph at Winterton on 19th August 2019 and was struck by the Stegosaurus-like projections along its dorsum. Bemused by its ID I posted a pic on Twitter and Tristan Bantock kindly replied to say it was one of the Macropsis.
Macrospsis sp. nymph, Winterton, 19th August
SUBFAMILY APHRODINAE
Aphrodes bicinctus/makarovi - Piecing together the information I could find about separating these two species I eventually became satisfied that 3 females caught in my garden moth trap between 5th and 14th October 2019 were Aphrodes bicinctus. However, when I looked back at these IDs a year later I'm not entirely sure what criteria I was going on - my notes refer to characters that appear to relate to the RES key's differentiation between bicinctus and aestuarinus, and I wonder if I had wrongly understood aestuarinus to be a synonym of makarovi. The RES key treats aestuarinus as a subspecies of bicinctus and I wonder if I got confused having read that makarovi had previously been considered a form of bicinctus? Anyway, whatever my thinking at the time, makarovi isn't covered in the key and was split from bicinctus more recently, so keying them to bicinctus does not help to rule out makarovi. Unfortunately I didn't retain a record of their size and at least one of them seems to have pale wing veins which is supposed to be a character of makarovi. So in hindsight I think I should regard these as bicinctus/makarovi agg. and hope to catch more in future that I can resolve positively. I didn't catch any at home in 2020 but did catch one at Whitwell Street on 3rd September 2020, however I was unable to satisfy myself whether this female was bicinctus or the commoner makarovi. In view of the confusion I think my previous records of makarovi from here and the meadows in 2018 are perhaps also best treated as aggs. at least until such time as I can find one I can positively identify.
Aphrodes bicinctus/makarovi agg., North Elmham, 5th October 2019
Aphrodes bicinctus/makarovi agg., North Elmham, 12th October 2019
Aphrodes bicinctus/makarovi agg., North Elmham, 15th October 2019
SUBFAMILY DELTOCEPHALINAE
Psammotettix confinis - My first example of this species came to light at the meadows on 8th September 2020. In view of the similarity of this species to others in the genus I attempted to check its genitalia, but I messed it up, initially extracting what I thought was the aedeagus before realising it wasn't and then being unable to find the real thing. I think the ID should be safe enough from external characters, but let me know if you disagree.
Psammotettix confinis, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 8th September 2020
Psammotettix striatus - A leafhopper caught in the garden moth trap on 25th July 2019 seemed to key to this species which is supposed to restricted to the Brecks (or at least it was when the RES key to Deltocephalinae was published, but that was 1969). The Brecks aren't all that far away so it's not entirely implausible but even if the description of the range isn't up to date it's a Red Data Book species so worth making quite sure. The wings clearly exceeded the abdomen and the length was about 4.0mm (which is the bottom end for striatus). The genitalia are a little tough to match up the the figures in the key but the long narrow stem to the aedeagus from behind seems to eliminate most of the similar species. The side view isn't perhaps quite as it should be though, so I'm not absolutely 100% sure and would be grateful for others' thoughts.
possible Psammotettix striatus, North Elmham, 25th July 2019 (lower two photos show aedeagus, firstly in situ from behind and then detached from the side)
Next page: more leafhoppers
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