Nysius huttoni

Finding this one around the same time as I was seeing several Nysius senecionis I thought it would be interesting to compare characters with those. The difference in structure is fairly distinctive, as are the longer hairs on the clavus (although the latter are not obvious in photos of the live insect). One of the characters mentioned for separating senecionis from graminicola is the extent of the matt area on the metapleuron so I wondered what this looked like on huttoni. Well, based on this one, it's less extensive than on senecionis (but I haven't seen graminicola or any photos of their metapleuron so I don't know how it compares with that). It's also grey - pale buff on the senecionis I've examined - and the texture is different. On senecionis it's covered in dark punctures, small, round and clearly separated from one another. On huttoni (this one at least) there were fewer less distinct punctures but also wrinkles, some of which were quite dark and joining some of the punctures together in lines.

Nysius huttoni showing clavus hairs and metapleuron, Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 17th May 2023

I've encountered this species occasionally before.

2x Nysius huttoni, Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 29th October 2022

This one emerged in a pot containing a leaf with Ectoedemia quinquella mines (and compost) which I had overwintered in the hope of rearing the moth. I collected the leaf on 2nd November 2018. I don't know much about the life-cycle of this species but presumably it must have entered the pot with either the leaf or the compost in November.

Nysius huttoni, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 24th April 2019