#Complex Enchenopa binotata

[celestialmacros]

Nothing to see here. Just another thorn on a branch

Two-marked Treehopper (Complex Enchenopa binotata)

July 6, 2025

Southeastern Pennsylvania

[typhlonectes]

How Trees Are Shaping Treehoppers

The sessile nature of plants means that they are strongly shaped by their environment. Natural selection is constantly at work on plants but that doesn’t mean that plants don’t shape their environment as well. 

When I think about the impact of plants on resident animal communities, I am always reminded of a quote by artist Terence McKenna, “Animals are something invented by plants to move seeds around.” Now, I realize that the animal kingdom got its start long before plants came onto the scene but there are many threads of truth to this quote.

Take, for instance, the case of the two-marked treehopper (Enchenopa binotata). This wonderful little insect enjoys a distribution that encompasses much of North and Central America, ranging from Canada down into Panama. Not only do these treehoppers look cool with their intriguing color pattern and that thorny pronatum, but their ecology and evolutionary history is absolutely fascinating as well. 

The existence of these treehoppers is entirely tied to the trees on which they live and breed. Moreover, while the two-marked treehopper may look like a single species, it is actually a complex of multiple cryptic “species” whose entire identity is owed to their preferred host tree...

Read more: https://www.indefenseofplants.com/blog/2020/7/6/how-trees-are-shaping-treehoppers

Photo: Judy Gallagher | Wikipedia CC

[celestialmacros]

Found in my day lilies

Two-marked Treehopper (Complex Enchenopa binotata)

July 5, 2020

Southeastern Pennsylvania