A pale planthopper resting like a folded tent
Medog in August is a green wall of vegetation, and planthoppers are everywhere if you look closely. This one was resting on a stem, its broad wings folded over its back like a small tent, pale and unassuming until I noticed the fine details: the neat wing venation and the way it shuffled sideways to keep the stem between us.
This is Flatida marginella, a planthopper in the family Flatidae of the order Hemiptera. Flatids are sap feeders, piercing plant tissue with their needle-like mouthparts and living off the sugars it provides. Their wings are broad and often held roof-like over the body, and many species are covered in waxy secretions that make them look dusted with powder.
The name marginella, a diminutive of the Latin word for margin, points to the marked edge of the wings, a small word for a small detail. Planthoppers take their name from their jumping ability: disturbed, they launch themselves with powerful hind legs, and the pale flash of wings is often all you see. They probe stems and leaf veins with piercing mouthparts, and in many flatid species the nymphs coat themselves and their branches in waxy fluff. In the dense undergrowth of Medog, that flash was the closest thing to a goodbye.
I watched it for a while as it sidled around the stem, always keeping a leaf between us. For a creature that spends its days drinking sap and jumping, it had a surprisingly careful sense of manners.
