Climate Change and New Insect: Near New York City

A new leafhopper has been found in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, perhaps noticed previously by the Jersey Devil. Or not. At any rate, researchers with the Museum of Natural History at the University of Colorado, the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Greensboro, N.C. and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden recently published their findings in the journal ZooKeys.

This is the first time an insect has been reported from the state-listed threatened pinebarren smokegrass, Muhlenbergia torreyana, according to a release.

The leafhopper has been called F. whitcombi, and it is not alone among leafhoppers from the same genus, Flexamia, in being dependent on a very specific plant. This leafhopper is dependent on a threatened species, the smokegrass, according to Eurekalert.

While that type of grass is still fairly well-distributed in the Pine Barrens, the small biosphere itself has already shown signs of suffering a warming climate. Human activities could also affect the leafhopper's habitat, according to Eurekalert.

"The description of any new species may serve as a catalyst for additional research, and this will be best accomplished while the species still can be found in nature--something that can no longer be taken for granted," said Andrew Hicks, from the Museum of Natural History at CU, according to a release. "To delay the publication of a species description until the time of a genus revision is to deny the pace of change in the natural world in the 21st century and may consign said new species to a future status of "known from a single collection", or, "presumed extinct, life history unknown," he added.