''Issus coleoptratus'' is a species of

planthopper A planthopper is any insect in the infraorder Fulgoromorpha, in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, a group exceeding 12,500 described species worldwide. The name comes from their remarkable resemblance to leaves and other plants of their environment ...

belonging to the family Issidae.

Distribution and habitat

This common species can be found in the western

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The ...

, in the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

, and in

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. These insects live on shrubbery and on foliage of various woody plants and common deciduous trees and in mixed forests (forest edges and parks).British Bugs
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Description

''Issus coleoptratus'' can reach a length of . The coloration of these planthoppers can vary from light brown and olive to nearly black. The head, including the eyes, is narrower than the

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

. The forehead is usually dark brown to black in the upper third, with lighter spots. In the lower area it is greenish, yellowish or brownish. The leathery wings usually show a huge number of dark brown cross-veins with a dark brown discal spot and some evidence of banding. The forewing veins of males and females differs (

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

), as they are effaced distally in the female, while in males they are throughout prominent. This species is very similar to the much rarer '' Issus muscaeformis''.

Biology

These insects are unable to fly, unlike most members of their

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

. They feed on the

phloem Phloem (, ) is the living tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as ''photosynthates'', in particular the sugar sucrose, to the rest of the plant. This transport process is ...

of different trees, such as lime trees (''Tilia'' species),

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

s (''Quercus'' species),

maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

s (''Acer'' species),

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

es (''Betula'' species),

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

s (''Ulmus'' species) and

hazel Hazels are plants of the genus ''Corylus'' of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family, Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K ...

s (''Corylus'' species). There is only one generation per year. Adults can be found from May to mid October, depending on location. The larvae overwinter on

ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern ...

(''Hedera'' species),

privet A privet is a flowering plant in the genus ''Ligustrum''. The genus contains about 50 species of erect, deciduous or evergreen shrubs or trees, with a native distribution from Europe to tropical and subtropical Asia, and with one species each ...

(''Ligustrum'' species),

juniper Junipers are coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Juniperus'' ( ) of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on the taxonomy, between 50 and 67 species of junipers are widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere as far south ...

(''Juniperus'' species) and ''

Taxus ''Taxus'' is a genus of coniferous trees or shrubs known as yews in the family Taxaceae. Yews occur around the globe in temperate zones of the northern hemisphere, northernmost in Norway and southernmost in the South Celebes. Some populations ex ...

'' species. Like all

s, the nymphs of this insect have a small,

gear A gear or gearwheel is a rotating machine part typically used to transmit rotational motion and/or torque by means of a series of teeth that engage with compatible teeth of another gear or other part. The teeth can be integral saliences or ...

-like structure on the base of each of their hind legs. These gear-like structures have teeth that intermesh, keeping the legs synchronized when the insect jumps, preventing it from spiraling. This is the first planthopper species in which the function of these gear-like structures was carefully described, though their existence had been known for decades.K. Sander. 1957. Bau und Funktion des Sprungapparates von ''Pyrilla perpusilla'' WALKER (Homoptera - Fulgoridae). Zool. Jb. Jena (Anat.) 75, 383–388 The insects shed this gear before moulting into adults.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1280969 Hemiptera of Europe Issinae Insects described in 1781 Articles containing video clips