Red-Tailed Leafhopper
Aflexia rubranura (DeLong)

Status: State Endangered (August 1, 1997).

Occurence: Occurs in Dane, Fond du Lac Iowa, Green Lake, Jefferson, Kenosha, Monroe, Sauk, Walworth, and Waukesha Counties of Wisconsin.

Aid to ID: A flightless insect, less than 4.0 mm in length, with pale yellowish coloration accented by a series of dark, transverse bands across the head and pronotum in a brick-like pattern. About 10% of early flight females have wings. The male has two red spots near the tail, thus the name red-tailed leafhopper. Found by vigorous sweep netting of the host plant.

Habitat: Inhabitants of dry to wet-mesic prairies with the host plant, prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis), the species appears to be absent from prairies in southwestern Wisconsin.

Management Considerations: Red-tailed leafhopper populations appear to recover slowly after fire, taking the populations 2-4 years to rebound. Univoltine populations are slower to recover. The leafhoppers have been found to survive on burned sites in very low numbers and recovery is largely by migration from unburned areas. As a flightless insect, the leafhopper travels slowly from unburned areas and such refugia must include enough prairie dropseed to sustain the population. Grazing reduces prairie dropseed. Mowing seems to have little effect on leafhopper populations and can be useful to remove woody plants encroaching on the prairie but does not remove the thatch buildup that eventually reduces prairie dropseed.

The content for this page was originally presented in the Endangered and Threatened Invertebrates of Wisconsin, a free publication available by contacting the Endangered Resources Program.