''Scaralina metcalfi'' 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 ...

in the family

Fulgoridae The family Fulgoridae is a large group of hemipteran insects, especially abundant and diverse in the tropics, containing over 125 genera worldwide. They are mostly of moderate to large size, many with a superficial resemblance to Lepidoptera due t ...

. It is found from

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

in the United States south to the

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...

in Mexico. It is one of four species (the others being ''

Scaralina aethrinsula ''Scaralina aethrinsula'' is a species of planthopper in the family Fulgoridae. It is found from Idaho in the United States south to the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico.Yanega, D., Goemans, G., Van Dam M., Gómez-Marco, F., Hoddle, M. (2024) De ...

'', ''

Scaralina cristata ''Scaralina cristata'' is a species of planthopper in the family Fulgoridae. It is found from Arizona in the United States south to the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico. It is one of four species (the others being ''Scaralina aethrinsula'', ''Sc ...

'', and ''

Scaralina marmorata ''Scaralina marmorata'' is a species of planthopper in the family Fulgoridae, found throughout the southeastern United States. It is one of four species (the others being '' Scaralina aethrinsula'', '' Scaralina cristata'', and '' Scaralina metca ...

'') that were, for several decades, erroneously grouped together under a single name, ''Alphina glauca''; this name is now treated as a synonym of ''S. marmorata''.

Biology

''Scaralina metcalfi'' typically occurs at higher elevations, above 1000 meters, and is associated with oaks ( ''Quercus'' spp.). Of the three co-occurring species in the area where it is found, it is much rarer than the other two species, and may feed on a rarer host oak species.

Distribution

''Scaralina metcalfi'' is found in a subset of the

Madrean Sky Islands The Madrean Sky Islands are enclaves of Madrean pine–oak woodlands, found at higher elevations in a complex of small mountain ranges in southern and southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northwestern Mexico. The sky islands are su ...

down into Chihuahua. In Arizona, its range is overlapped by the ranges of ''

'' and ''

'', and all three species can be found together.

References

Insects described in 2024 Insects of North America Insects of Central America Poiocerinae {{Fulgoridae-stub