More pieces of the green bug puzzle

Hugh Griffith, of the Lulu Island Blog, left a comment on my last post, Aphid in Sheep's Clothing, suggesting that the woolly green bugs I have been trying to identify may be flatid pale green planthoppers.

The bug, in the nude, as I saw it on Wednesday.

Off I went, to research immature planthoppers. And some of the nymphs are woolly, just like woolly aphids. They have those funny little winglets. Some are even green. But none were quite like what I had.

I had put the tray of leaves and bugs outside on the patio. After I had looked at too many jpegs of planthoppers, I went out to look over the real thing again, and incidentally, to see if they had survived my manipulations. They had. But one looked different, even to the naked eye; the little brown winglets now looked larger, and white.

I brought it inside to the light and grabbed the camera right away. Which was fortunate, or I would have missed this:

First photo; about 2 minutes after I had discovered the change. The white wings are already larger. Note, on the left, the exoskeleton, with wool, that he had just vacated; I had caught him in the final moments of molting. His eyes and antennae are white, he's lost his goggles, that black tail end is gone, and now he has some sort of pale brown tubing at the rear.
A minute later; the wings are longer already. Having trouble with the lighting.


Barely another minute: now the wings are well beyond the tail structure.Wings straightening up. He now seems much larger than the little shell he came out of, just minutes before.
Total time, from first glimpse to final photo, about 5 minutes. After this, he just sat there. I went to look over the photos. When I came back, much later, after supper, etc., he hadn't changed much, except that the antennae were no longer transparent.


There is no trace of his previous eye and tail markings, although the body shape is similar, and he is still that brilliant green. The eyes, depending on the light, are now brownish or white.

I looked again, at photos of treehoppers. Most of them seem to have solid-colour wings, but there are a few similar to mine. He looks something like a whitebacked planthopper, which is present here in BC, but much greener. He resembles, in some ways, the Ormenaria rufifascia, from Florida, but without the orange head striping, and with paler, silvery wings.

So, I think I am dropping the idea of a woolly aphid, and running with an indetermined species of planthopper.*

And I am still left with the questions: why? What function, if any, does that woolly, waxy blanket serve? And does the planthopper exude honeydew, like the aphid? Because those leaves definitely became sticky; or is that due to the wax?

The more I learn, the more mysteries I find.

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Update: The big guns have spoken.

Dr. Hamilton identified my photos on Bug Guide as Psyllidae, otherwise known as plantlice. So the breakdown goes: Insects (Insecta) » Winged Insects (Pterygota) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » Plant-parasitic Hemipterans (Sternorrhyncha) » Psylloidea » Psyllidae.

These insects (one of the planthoppers) are very "host specific" (Wikipedia); they feed on one species or a small group only. So it was important to note that I found these on alder. Googling Psyllidae and alder, and looking at another series of photos, both of nymphs and adults, I come up with Psylla alni as the closest match. Still not exactly the same, but near enough to know I am on the right track. Finally.

Phew!

And look at this stunning photo of a nymph of Psylla alni, under its coating of fiber! (Copyrighted.)