Family: Cicadellidae
Subfamily: Deltocephalinae
Length: typically 3.0-3.8 mm
Graminella nigrifrons adults are active in West Virginia whenever weather permits, typically from April to October.
These leafhoppers feed on various annual and perennial grasses, and are a pest of various grain crops.
Kentucky researchers in 2001 published a study of male chorusing behavior in Graminella nigrifrons. Like frogs, the males form alternating choruses, with one chorus emitting their vibrational calls while another group is silent. The leafhoppers responded readily to recorded calls of their species, easily falling into the rhythm of chorusing with a recording.
Perhaps the oddest record of this species is that reported by Sparks et al. (1986), who collected three of these hoppers at lights on two oil rigs, located 32 and 74 km off the Louisiana coast.
Right: A lateral view of the face that gave the species the name nigrifrons. This hopper was on a Coleus leaf in the garden.
