Indentify this Bug

[DrWurm]

I found this little guy floating in a bucket of water in my backyard. When I saw that he didn't have any nasty looking appendages, I let him crawl on my thumb.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/drwurm/3499000088/" title="Unknown Insect in a Bucket of Water by DrWurm, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3596/3499000088_9a0a10c35e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Unknown Insect in a Bucket of Water" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/drwurm/3498981016/" title=""I think it's safe...." by DrWurm, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3555/3498981016_26d5ed15a1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt=""I think it's safe...."" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/drwurm/3498167747/" title="It's Headed Straight for Us! by DrWurm, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3358/3498167747_d18c727d2a.jpg" width="500" height="439" alt="It's Headed Straight for Us!" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/drwurm/3498186925/" title="Unknown Insect on my Thumb by DrWurm, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3349/3498186925_a0de79b250.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Unknown Insect on my Thumb" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/drwurm/3498168235/" title="Unknown Insect Eye Macro by DrWurm, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3605/3498168235_168eef93f0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Unknown Insect Eye Macro" /></a>

Jason

 

[Ozzy]

A cool one?

 

[carnivoure12]

Hmmm maybe a type of cycada, if not a cycada crossed with a frog

 

[DrWurm]

Hmmm maybe a type of cycada, if not a cycada crossed with a frog

I wouldn't be surprised if it's related to a cicada, but it's not quite bulky enough. I'm glad I'm not the only one who seems to think it has a very amphibious vibe to it. I thought it looked kinda like a salamander.

 

[Rocketcaver]

Using the fingernail for scale I would say it's much too small for a cicada.
Maybe some sort of big leaf-hopper?

 

[F R e N c H 3 z]

Using the fingernail for scale I would say it's much too small for a cicada.
Maybe some sort of big leaf-hopper?

That was my first thought as well, at least some sort or relation to a leaf-hopper, though cicada wouldnt surprise me either.

 

[Finch]

Cicadas are pretty much gigantic leaf-hoppers of a sort; I am fairly certain that the insect pictured is a true leaf-hopper but it is one of the biggets ones I have ever seen.

Actually, come to think of it there was a colony of bigger ones on some cosmos I had in the garden. They were browinsh-black and thorn-shaped.

 

[DrWurm]

Ah, with the leafhopper clue, I was able to get a positive ID. This is Homalodisca vitripennis, the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter.

Jason

 

[Finch]

I have a love/hate relationship with leafhoppers. The big ones are always really cool, but the stupid things gave my 'Purple dome' plant Aster Yellows disease. Leahoppers are like plant fleas! I loved that plant, it was really starting to reach its prime and there is no cure for viral deseases so I had to rip it out. I have yet to find another locally.

 

[swords]

Love those reticulated eyeballs! Or are the eyes the smaller black dots that are more centered, or are both sets of eyes?

 

[Not a Number]

Ah, with the leafhopper clue, I was able to get a positive ID. This is Homalodisca vitripennis, the Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter.

Jason

Good sleuthing there, Jason.

Plenty of photos to be found here:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/53860/bgimage

They are in the same super Family (Cicadoidea) as cicadas.

The Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter is native to the South East United States and have been introduced to other areas of the country, including Southern California. Since they vector many plant diseases they are a potential agricultural threat.

http://acwm.co.la.ca.us/scripts/glassyW.htm

 

[Rocketcaver]

The big ones are the eyes, at least the main ones.
I have always wondered about the small dots too.
An extra set of eyes like on a spider? Don't know.
Cicadas have something similar.

 

[carnivoure12]

perhaps they are amodified antennas, as the bug doesn't seem to have any!

 

[DrWurm]

The big ones are the eyes, at least the main ones.
I have always wondered about the small dots too.
An extra set of eyes like on a spider? Don't know.
Cicadas have something similar.

I was wondering if they might be some sort of sensory organs.

 

[DrWurm]

Ah, here we are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocelli#Dorsal_Ocelli

Bugs are cool.

Jason