One Lot in Houston: Garden Fleahopper (Halticus bractatus)

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Hemiptera Taxonomy

Garden Fleahopper - BugGuide
Garden Fleahopper - University of Florida
Garden Fleahopper - University of Kentucky

I found this female garden fleahopper on a cucumber leaf on April 28, 2017.

Click to see it bigger!

I didn't realize it at the time, but all the small light splotches on the leaves were being caused by the fleahoppers, as were the fecal spots on the undersides of the cucumber leaves.

Well before I discovered the fleahoppers, I noticed that some of the canteloupe and cucumber leaves in Bed 3 were covered with small white spots. This photo is from April 27, 2017.

On April 29, I went into the yard and saw that a big area in Bed 3 was covered with fleahoppers. All of the lettuce was heavily infested, and several could be seen on many of the canteloupe and cuke leaves. I removed all the lettuce since I wasn't good for eating anymore.

Going back the next day, the infestation seemed to have declined quite a bit, and many leaves had longlegged flies on them.