Threebanded Leafhopper – Erythroneura tricincta

Three-banded Leafhopper – Erythroneuratricincta

Common Name: Three-banded Leafhopper

Latin Name: Erythroneuratricincta

Appearance:

• The first band is a narrow U-shaped band that mainly covers the eyes. All of the bands are brown.
• The initial band seems squared or barbell-shaped rather than U-shaped. All of the bars are brown.
• There is no brown ring on the head. The first band, like Erythroneura strata, curls forward, while the second band is brown on the sides and red in the center. The third band is either red with a brown dot or brown. This specimen belongs to a different genus than the others.
• This species’ markings are pretty striking, resembling a white circle with a red edge on a brown body. The white bands will be narrower and red-edged, and the second brown band will be circular rather than mask-shaped.

Territory:

Three-banded Leafhopper is found throughout in United States.

Life history and habits:

The three-banded hopper, like the traditional grape leafhopper, spends the winter as an adult in or near vineyards, attacks the grape foliage in the spring, feeding and breeding on the underside of the leaves, and appears to pass through two or possibly three generations before being driven into hibernation by frost. The hoppers enter hibernation with almost equal numbers of men and females, but after mating and traveling to the grape leaves in the spring, most of the males die, with counts early in June indicating nearly 90% females. The eggs are laid on the bottom surface of the elder grape leaves, right beneath the epidermis.