# ID this small green insect? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 10, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477 "2020-04-10T02:57:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477/1 "2020-04-10T02:57:17Z")
[Encountered earlier today in South Carolina](https://imgur.com/a/9LBfk0X). For scale, those stringy things that resemble magnified arm hairs are magnified arm hairs. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477/2 "2020-04-10T03:06:13Z")
My first thought is katydid. > **[Tettigoniidae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tettigoniidae?wprov=sfla1)** > > See text > Insects in the family Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids (especially in North America), or bush crickets. They have previously been known as "long-horned grasshoppers". More than 8,000 species are known. Part of the suborder Ensifera, the Tettigoniidae are the only extant (living) family in the superfamily Tettigonioidea. > They are primarily nocturnal in habit with strident mating calls. Many species exhibit mimicry and camouflage, commonly with shapes and colors similar to l... But I dont see the wings. Maybe a nymph? I’unno. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477/3 "2020-04-10T03:18:56Z")
It’s a leafhopper nymph. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477/4 "2020-04-10T03:20:54Z")
My guess is some kind of a leafhopper nymph. edit…hmmm, maybe I was right! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477/5 "2020-04-10T03:26:58Z")
Sorry, I should have said treehopper (Family Membracidae) [Here’s one that’s kind of similar.](https://www.swanson-media.com/photos/lightboxes/nature/insects/true_bugs/treehoppers/source/2013_0663.html) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477/6 "2020-04-10T03:33:41Z")
[Treehoppers.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treehopper) I think it’s a treehopper because of the hump on the thorax. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2020, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477/7 "2020-04-10T12:06:32Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Sorry, I should have said treehopper (Family Membracidae) > > [Here’s one that’s kind of similar.](https://www.swanson-media.com/photos/lightboxes/nature/insects/true_bugs/treehoppers/source/2013_0663.html) Yep, that looks about (generally) right. In my searches, I hadn’t come up with anything with a “tail” like that. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477/8 "2020-04-13T21:27:28Z")
Just found another of these in the same spot (they must be falling off my hicory tree) and got [a pretty good\* photo](https://imgur.com/a/DRT0qsw). Measuring by pixels from the 2x4 that it is on (upside down–I flipped the image) it is around 8 to 9 mm long. \*“good” for something this small and taken with a phone that cost me 100 bucks. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477/9 "2020-04-13T22:13:08Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Just found another of these in the same spot (they must be falling off my hicory tree) and got [a pretty good\* photo](https://imgur.com/a/DRT0qsw). Measuring by pixels from the 2x4 that it is on (upside down–I flipped the image) it is around 8 to 9 mm long. Here’s the [treehoppers of North Carolina,](http://dpr.ncparks.gov/bugs/gallery.php?pass_page=1&family=Membracidae) although very few of the photos are of nymphs. I think you’ll need a specialist to get a species ID. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477/10 "2020-04-13T22:58:34Z")
“Treehopper nymph” is close enough for me–I was just sharing the new photo. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-small-green-insect/851477/11 "2020-04-13T23:10:25Z")
My first thought was aphid, are all these closely related?