Those tiny things in the night

 It won't be long before my black light comes out again, attracting all sorts of creatures large and small. Black lighting takes a lot of preparation and work, but examining the results can be very worthwhile.

Getting out at night can be quite different than roaming around during the daylight hours. One can listen to the coyotes howl, or get an appreciation for some of those heavenly bodies out in the sky.

 And wildlife comes to me. I've had Virginia Opossums, Raccoons, Spring Peepers and Eastern Grey Treefrogs stop by, as well as Eastern Screech Owls arriving in nearby trees, responding to my attempts at whistling them in. Presumably the frogs are coming to the light, hoping for something to chow down on.

Spring Peeper

Eastern Grey Treefrog

While most of my posts involving black lighting focus on moths, this one will focus on things tinier than most moths, but which are incredibly patterned: leafhoppers!

Eight-lined Leafhopper, Gyponana octolineata

 Leafhoppers look somewhat like miniature cicadas. There are around 3000 species in North America, and wherever you find plants, you are likely to find leafhoppers. They have a tube-like mouth, enabling them to pierce a plant and suck the juices out for nourishment.  Some are problematic for crops, such as the potato leafhopper.

Potato Leafhopper, Empoasca fabae

Some are exotic, and likely arrived from the importation of non-native plants, such as this next one, the Japanese Leafhopper......

.....or the Japanese Maple Leafhopper.

They vary in size. This next photo shows the Gyponana type, similar to the first one above. It is almost two centimetres in length, but the smaller one is believed to be Graminella nigrifrons, barely half a centimetre in length.

Graminella nigrifrons

There are a wide variety of colours and patterns. Some are rather dull looking at first glance, but have a lot of minute detail, even more minute considering the small size of the critter. Not all have common names, just scientific ones.

Bespeckled Leafhopper, Paraphlepsius irroratus

Catonia nava

Bandera sp.

Jikradia olitoria

Ponana quadralaba

This next one is a youngster, not quite developed to its adult form.

Scaphytopius sp

Iowanus sp.

Osbornellus sp.

Ponana limbatipennis

Scaphoideus obtusus

Others are quite colourful or at least more obviously patterned!

Empoa gillettei

Saddleback Leafhopper, Colladonus clitellarius

Not brightly patterned, but with a more distinct shape is this next one, the Sharpshooter, named perhaps for its pointy head.

Sharpshooter, Draeculacephala sp.

This next one is the Grapevine Leafhopper, Erythroneura vitis. The name is far bigger than the individual.

Related to the previous one is this next one.

Erythroneura sp.

Rugosana querci

A very distinctively patterned one is this next one.

Tylozygus bifidus

And finally, one of my all time favourites. I see this regularly on some of my milkweed plants in the yard, among other places. It is the Red-banded Leafhopper, Graphocephala coccinea

Leafhoppers are small, no doubt about it, and I expect most people have never even seen one, or at least not recognized one if they saw it. But it is the smallest things of nature that are the building blocks for the larger elements of nature. Without them, we would probably not survive very long.

Here is to leafhoppers!

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