Strange Insect
Location: Singapore
March 4, 2012 4:12 am
Hello there,
i was wondering if you could help me identify this cute little insect, it almost looked like a moth, but the wings were placed oddly. the whole insect was a light purple blue, sorry if the photo is a bad.
Signature: Cassia
Hi Cassia,
This is a Planthopper, and we did find several matching photos online, including this image on the Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature website, but we were unable to identify the species. We suspect it is in the family Flatidae.
thank you so much for the reply!
I have done some research on them, but I am still wondering if there is a difference between planthoppers and leafhoppers?
Cassia
They are in the same Hemipteran suborder Auchenorrhyncha, the Free Living Hemipterans, but they are in different superfamilies. See BugGuide for a taxonomic breakdown.
light purple blue, almost like a moth? maybe metcalfa pruinosa – very aggressive specimen, but the location … is strange 🙂
Perhaps this signals a new invasive introduction.