A Leaf Hopper, Athysanus argentarius
Woodlands Field, Allestree Park, August 2010 - Bill Grange
During 2010, Steve Plant, a fellow keen photographer and naturalist, and I have started to carry out a detailed photographic survey of the wildlife of Allestree Park, concentrating on insects. Already, we have made some interesting discoveries. Among them is a completely new species for Derbyshire, Athysanus argentarius (no common name, I'm afraid), a form of leaf-hopper.
Leaf-hoppers are members of the 'true bugs' (Order Hemipitera), characterised by having piercing and sucking feeding mechanism and the absence of a larval stage - the young hatching as more-or-less miniature versions of the parents. Leaf Hoppers are closely related to the noisy cicadas of warmer countries - but are much smaller. Like them, they feed on plants.
There are many species of leaf-hoppers in Britain, several common in Derbyshire but this particular species was, until recently, confined to the South of England. Climate change has probably been the main factor in its spread northwards. We were delighted to hear from 'true bug' experts (I suppose we should call them Hemipterists) that our sighting of Athysanus argentarius was the first to be recorded for Derbyshire.
We found it (only one specimen, so far) at the extreme northern end of the Park at Woodlands Field - designated as a City Wildlife Site because of its rich flora and wax-cap fungi. This site obviously repays more investigation - but there are many other areas of Allestree Park which may well yield further surprises
Bill Grange 2010.12
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