Black-ledged Sharpshooter

This species is green to yellow-green with blue wing venation and a blunter head than most members of the genus. This species is very similar to D. angulifera and D. crassicornis , but has subtle features that usually allow differentiation with clear photos. There is a dark spot in front of each antennal segment on the head and two very close dark spots on the vertex. These markings are much bolder on noveboracensis than they are on similar species (while males of angulifera can present bold markings, there is a distinctive crossbow-shaped mark on the crown not present in other species). Importantly, there is a dark spot on the face directly below the vertex (preocular macula), which is distinctive. Hamilton (1985) reinstated D. prasina from junior synonymy under noveboracensis , stating that the two taxa differ slightly in the shape of the male 2S apodemes. This distinction, which is apparently correlated with latitude and body size, seems arbitrary. I was unable to find consistent differences in the shape of the 2S apodemes of males dissected for the present study, nor could I find additional diagnostic characters for these taxa. I therefore regard them as synonyms. - Dietrich, 1994