Cicadellidae

views updated May 14 2018

Cicadellidae (leaf hoppers; order Hemiptera, suborder Homoptera) Family of homopterans which occur on almost every kind of herbaceous and woody plant. Many of them are serious pests of crops which they damage either directly through feeding on the sap or cell contents, or indirectly through the effects of toxic saliva, or by transmitting virus diseases. There are many thousands of species, distributed world-wide.