Subject: White African Bug
Location: South Africa
January 24, 2015 11:58 am
A friend of mine was biking through south africa and took a photo of this bug and a second of a whole tree branch covered in them. What is this bug??
Signature: Confused Friends
Hi Confused Friends,
The white insect you want identified is an immature Planthopper, probably a Flattid Planthopper in the family Flatidae based on this image on iSpot. Two of your images include orange or yellow winged insects that we are speculating are adult Mothbugs, a South African name for Flattid Planthoppers. The adults in your images look similar to Phromnia rosea, a species from Madagascar pictured on the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Research Blog. We suspect your individuals are closely related as both adults and nymphs look similar to the images of Phromnia rosea pictured on Wildscreen Arkive.
