Family: Cicadellidae
Subfamily: Deltocephalinae
Length: typically 3.5-4.0 mm
Adult Macrosteles leafhoppers are most common in West Virginia in mid-summer to late autumn.
There are 33 Nearctic species in the genus Macrosteles. The most recent revision was by Bryan P. Beirne in 1952. Beirne noted the wide variation within species, and cautioned that definitive identifications should be based on examination of the males internal genitalia, and that females "often cannot be named in the absence of associated males."
Note that in this genus, the commissure is not one continual straight line, but instead at the rear of the insect there is some overlap of wings and the appendix is well-developed (in other words, there is a large area devoid of venation at the apices of the forewings).
Also note that in Macrosteles the ocelli are very close to the eyes.
Among the more commonly collected species is Macrosteles quadrilineatus, a pest that has been given the common name Aster Leafhopper.
