For many years I have enjoyed finding an abundant supply of
these Treehoppers on the Blue Jay Barrens Redbud trees. When I was young, finding Treehoppers was a
real treat. Being experts at looking
like a part of the plant upon which they are resting, they never quite looked
to me like real animals. If they chose
to move, it looked like the plant was rearranging its parts.
Most have the general shape of thorns and make a normally
smooth stem appear untouchable. Knowing
that the plant doesn’t produce thorns is what tips most people off to the
presence of Treehoppers. Redbuds have smooth stems, so the thorns can’t be
real.
Treehoppers pierce the stem with their mouth parts and feed
on the sap. Since their food comes to
them, they don’t have to move around and they benefit by being mistaken for a
stationary plant part. Their numbers
vary from tree to tree, but I’ve never seen so many as to cause damage to the
tree.
A couple of years ago I decided to learn the name of this
interesting insect. I soon found it
referred to as the Two-marked Treehopper, Enchenopa binotata. Further reading indicated that the scientific
name actually referred to a complex of species.
That didn’t make any sense to me.
It’s either a species or its not.
After more research, I gathered that there were several similarly
appearing Treehoppers that were being assigned as different species because
they were dependant upon different host plants.
This and several others had not yet been formally described and named. So there’s no new name for me to learn and I
can just keep referring to them as the Redbud Treehoppers.
Named or not, I find them interesting. I’ve never seen them on any plant other than
Redbud, so I must not have any of the other unnamed species. I’ll keep watching them and maybe one day I
can go out and announce that they are no longer nameless.
