Issus coleoptratus

A rounded hopper, greyish in colour, with a very prominent and distinctive net-like pattern of veins on the forewings.  There are dark markings on the face. 

The nymph often has a tuft of wax filaments projecting from the rear end, which are secreted from glands; the purpose may be to confuse predators or to stabilise the insect when hopping. 

The rare Issus muscaeformis is very similar, but with a yellow bar across the lower part of the frons (face).  It has not been recorded in VC55

Good photographs in the field or from a specimen

It is found on a range of woody plants, frequently on Ivy.

Adult: June to November.

Common (ref.: UK Auchenorrhyncha checklist 2021)

occasional

https://www.britishbugs.org.uk/homoptera/Issidae/Issus_coleoptratus.html

See this article in Worcestershire Record (Whitehead and Key, 2010) for comparisons between the two UK species. 

Issus nymphs have toothed mechanical gears on their joints to synchronise hopping - the only known instance of functional gears being found in nature. See this article in the Smithsonian magazine (ref: Burrows M., Energy storage and synchronisation of hind leg movements during jumping in planthopper insects (Hemiptera, Issidae). J. Exp. Biol. 213, 469–478 (2010)