Pest of the month: The Mango Plant Hopper

This summer my back yard had been invaded by another plant pest. This time it’s the Mango Plant Hopper (Colgariodes acuminate). The Mango Plant Hopper is an introduced species and it resembles a lot of other plant hoppers belonging to the family Flatidae. It can be easily confused with another exotic pest the Citrus Plant Hopper (Colgar peracutum) or with native plant hoppers from genus Siphanta among others. Although my garden was full of them I couldn’t see any damage caused by them. Plant hoppers use their piercing mouth parts to puncture the plant and feed on its nutrients. May be they fed on lignified stems where puncture marks are not obvious or may be my bonsai trees are not their host plants.