I’ve been leaf-bothering a few times recently at Cardiff’s Cathays Cemetery in an attempt to re-find the species of leafhopper (Zyginella pulchra) that I found ‘new to Wales’ back in 2016 (First recorded sighting in Wales!, September 2016). I’ve had no luck with that so far – I’m planning more visits, but I have found a few other nice leafhoppers at the cemetery and in nearby Heath Park (those leafhoppers will feature in future blogs).

Though I thought its markings quite distinctive, today’s handsome leafhopper can only be identified to species, one of the Acericerus species to be precise. According to the Cicadellidae species list on the British Bugs website, there are three possibilities: Acericerus heydenii (British Bugs has no page dedicated to this species but I found it on Naturespot), A. ribauti and A. vittifrons. To be honest, none of these look anything like my photos (mine were identified as Acericerus species by the national records verifier), so I assume the two I found were nymphs and thus were sporting the colouration and patterning of immature specimens. Leafhoppers can be tricky, and I obviously need to search further.