Over the years I’ve seen many small green-looking leafhoppers on Bramble and, knowing that small green-looking leafhoppers can be very difficult to identify, I’ve tended to ignore them. Last week, when Bramble-leaf-turning, I noticed that these little hoppers had some quite subtle markings on their backs (some with more saturated colour than others) that might help to distinguish them from others of their kin and, as they were keeping relatively still, I was able to get some photos (though grainy due to the dim light).

These have now been confirmed as Ribautiana tenerrima sensu lato, one of the most common species in Britain, that can be seen on Brambles and several other plant species between June and December. As there are other very similar Ribautiana species, for recording purposes, where we can’t distinguish one from the other, we use the catch-all name Ribautiana tenerrima sensu lato, with sensu lato meaning ‘in the broad sense’.