Planthopper

Planthoppers are insects in the infraorder Fulgoromorpha. They are true bugs (Hemiptera), with over 12,500 described species.

Planthopper Temporal range: Early Jurassic–Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Phromnia rosea (Flatidae) adults and nymphs
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hemiptera
Suborder:	Auchenorrhyncha
Infraorder:	Fulgoromorpha Evans, 1946

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.^[1][2]

Their nymphs have a biological gear mechanism at the base of the hind legs, which keeps the legs in synchrony when the insects jump.^[3]

In popular culture

The planthopper is mentioned in a key scene from Alfred Hitchcock's film Marnie:^[4]

"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".