Auchenorrhyncha

a suborder of insects of the order Homoptera. The suborder Auchenorryncha, which embraces more species than any other suborder of Homoptera, includes suctorial insects of varying external appearance and size that are harmful to plants. The approximately 17,000 species are distributed throughout the world, with the exception of the arctic and subarctic regions. About 2,000 species are found in the USSR.

The head and thorax of the insects are immovably joined, and the organs of vision are represented by a pair of compound eyes and two or three simple eyes. The legs are ambulatory. The hind legs are elongated and saltatorial, and the tarsus consists of three segments. The anterior wings may be rooflike, membranous, or chitinous. The venation is longitudinal and latitudinal. The females possess an ovipositor.

Metamorphosis is incomplete. The larva develops through five stages. The adults live on plants. Some live under the cover of a foamy liquid they themselves produce, while others live in the soil. Most species produce one or two generations a year, while some produce four or five. Life expectancy ranges from two years (Cicadetta montana) to 17 years (the family Cicadidae). In fossil form the Auchenorrhyncha date from the Permian.

The Auchenorrhyncha harm plants by sucking their juices, by damaging shoots with the ovipositor during the laying of eggs, and by facilitating the transmission of viral plant diseases. Deltocephalus striatus, for example, damages grain crops, and Cicadatra ochreata and Cicadatra querula harm cotton crops.