Family: Cicadellidae
Subfamily: Deltocephalinae
Length: 4.2-5.0 mm
Scaphytopius acutus is a common species in many peach orchards, and it is a vector of X-disease in peach trees.
McClure (1980) reported that although Scaphytopius acutus does feed on peach, that actually its preferred food plants for nymphal and adult feeding, and for oviposition, were Red Clover, Blackberry, and Wild Strawberry, all of which grew in and near the peach orchards he was studying.
Left: Looking at this creature's head, it is easy to see how it got the Latin name "acutus" (sharp).
A similarly sharp-nosed species found in West Virginia is Scaphytopius frontalis. Several other West Virginia Scaphytopius spp. are also illustrated on this site.
