Another ID Request

[Mr. Mordax]

We found a small insect at work yesterday that we're trying to identify. It's in order Hemiptera, but I'm not sure if it's suborder Heteroptera or Homoptera -- leaning a little towards Homoptera. I think it's a nymph and not an adult.

Bright red body and eyes
4-segmented antennae (segments 1, 2, and 4 are the same bright red as the body, segment 3 is white)
White legs
White rostrum
Tarsi appear to be 1-segmented
Overall length is less than one millimeter
Very active

Discovered in a hazelnut orchard in the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

I can't access the photos at the moment, but here's something I whipped up in MS Paint that gives a good idea of what it looks like.

This picture conveys the proportions fairly well.

If anyone has any ideas, they'd be greatly appreciated.

 

[lucanidae]

Contact Randall Schuh of the AMNH and send him a picture. He gave a lecture in my Insect Phylogenetics class and is currently the 'king' of Hemiptera. He can also tell you why Homoptera is a bogus grouping and shouldn't be used since it is paraphyletic.

 

[Mr. Mordax]

Thanks, I'll try getting a hold of him soon. Can I tell him Dr. Rayor sent me?

[Edit: realized the faculty link isn't you -- can I say one of Dr. Rayor's students sent me? :8o]
I gathered from my latest romp through Wikipedia that the systemics had been changed again, but was too lazy to remember what the "new" Homoptera was called. Until I remember it, I'll have to call it "the order formerly known as . . ."

I miss the days of Hemiptera being the true bugs, Homoptera being the hoppers, and Heteroptera being a spelling mistake (to the extent of my knowledge, anyway).

 

[lucanidae]

Haha, yeah that's the lab I work in.

Tell him a Cornell Entomologist told you to email him for the ID, I don't think he'll mind, he was a really nice guy. He might remember lecturing to the class but he probably has no idea who I am.