Thanks to Lois O´Brien, Geert Goemans and Jason Cryan for help with the identification of Fulgoridae images.
Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law.
Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay.
Photographs on this page were taken by Paul Smith and Jeni Oborn are used with their permission.
Additional photographs on this page were taken by  Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org and are used with permission.
Aprecio mucho tu generoso contribución Ulf, mil gracias!
FULGORIDAE: LANTERN BUGS
Medium to large bugs (the largest reaching 10cm!), some of which are superficially similar to cicadas. This is an exclusively tropical family of 750 or so species worldwide each feeding by sucking plant uses using the piercing mouthparts. The front wings are large and in some species brightly-coloured, and both sets of wings have an intricate network of veins and cross-veins. Some of the more distinctive species are notable for thie strange head shapes, leading the name "peanut bugs" or "crocodile bugs" on account of the supposed resemblance of their head structures to the proposed adjectives. These strange shaped heads were originally assumed to possess a luminescent function, leading to the name "lantern bugs", though there are no substantiated records of this happening in any known species. Many species rapidly flick open the wings to startle predators, and the hindwings are often marked with ocelli.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2
FIGURE 3

FIGURE 3
FIGURE 4

FIGURE 4
FIGURE 5

FIGURE 5
FIGURE 6

FIGURE 6
FIGURE 7

FIGURE 7
FIGURE 8

FIGURE 8
FIGURE 9

FIGURE 9
FIGURE 10

FIGURE 10
FIGURE 11

FIGURE 11
FIGURE 12

FIGURE 12
FIGURE 13

FIGURE 13
FIGURE 14

FIGURE 14
FIGURE 15

FIGURE 15
FIGURE 16

FIGURE 16
FIGURE 1 - Acmonia amoena, location unknown (Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org).
FIGURE 2 - Acmonia amoena, PN Tte Enciso, Departamento Boquerón (Paul Smith February 2012)
FIGURE 3 - Acraephia or Zeunasa sp, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith March 2007).
FIGURE 4 - Zeunasa turca, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith March 2007).
FIGURE 5 - Scaralis picta, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith April 2011).
FIGURE 6 - Acraephia perspicillata, location unknown (Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org).
FIGURE 7 - Cathedra serrata, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (Jeni Oborn April 2010).
FIGURE 8 - Episcius platyrrhinus, location unknown (Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org).
FIGURE 9 - Flatolystra ypsilon, location unknown (Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org).
FIGURE 10 - Fulgora cearensis, location unknown (Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org).
FIGURE 11 - Fulgora lucifera, Departamento Caaguazú (Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org).
FIGURE 12 - Odontoptera spectabilis,  location unknown (Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org).
FIGURE 13 - Phenax variegata (Olivier), PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith February 2008).
FIGURE 14 - Weyrauchia fulminea,  location unknown (Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org).
FIGURE 15 - Zeunasa turca,  location unknown (Ulf Drechsel www.pybio.org).
FIGURE 16 - Unidentified sp, PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith January 2009).