Tuesday, August 23, 2016

An Agalliopsis Species: Backyard Biodiversity Project Species #6



What I'm finding out about the world of insects is how relatively common species that I encounter in my backyard are poorly unknown.  This leafhopper is tiny, and supposedly there are 15 species in the genus Agalliopsis,but only two are listed on bugguide, and they look quite similar!  So for this species, as far as I'm going to get for now to identify it to genus. This one is truly tiny, probably 5 millimeters long or less!

-Tom

2 comments:

  1. Based on my experience with aquatic invertebrates, you've probably got to examine the insects' reproductive organs under a dissecting microscope to separate the species.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh yes.. and as I'm planning to keep my creatures alive, I don't plan on digging into them anytime soon. That being said, at one time most dragonfly experts didn't know the animals in the field,only under the microscope, and now, we can identify them on the wing. With enough work and photography, I hope that we can come up with pictorial identification, but I just might be too naive to the complexities of insect taxonomy. Thanks for the comment Scott!

      -Tom

      Delete