Privit leafhopper - a vector of disease for stone fruit trees.

Privit leafhopper (Fieberiella florii) as found in my backyard in Kelowna, BC.  

Cicadas and "hoppers" used to belong to the order Homoptera.  However, that taxonomic title has been dissolved and the group has been folded in with the true bugs, the Hemiptera.  They are distantly related to the original group, which included the more familiar true bugs like stink bugs, back swimmers, and box elder bugs.  The website, bugguide.net gives a breakdown of its taxonomy (click here to see link).

Taxonomy of the Privit leafhopper as shown at the website bugguide.net.  See link above.

I have never seen a tree hopper as they are mostly tropican, although there are some species that live in Canada (mostly in Ontario and Quebec).  They are peculiar looking insects; click here if you want to see some examples.    Frog hoppers are common where I live; I have photographed their nymphs and have written a blog on them (click here).  The most common of the group here are the leaf hoppers.

Leaf hoppers have a reputation as being agricultural pests.  The big problem is that they are a vector for carrying plant diseases.  The privit leafhopper feeds on plant juices and causes some cosmetic damage.  It's the disease it carries that Okanagan farmers care about.

X-disease is a bacterial infection of cherries, peaches, and other stone fruits.  It is incurable; the infected tree must be removed, otherwise the infection will be passed on to neighbouring plants.  The infection starts on a branch and spreads to the entire tree; the fruit is small and bitter and the tree eventually dies.

Like the mosquito, this small insect can have a large impact through the transmission of disease.  Only the trees can't swat them.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com