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It’s hard to tell scale in macro photography, but this planthopper was relatively huge — almost 1 cm — and was very patient while I got some gorgeous photos.

Melanoliarus has about 48 species in North America, and they can only be firmly identified by looking at the genitals of the males, so Melanoliarus sp. this will have to remain, although looking at bugguide, I am personally pretty convinced it’s a Melanoliarus placitus. Here’s the image on bugguide — maybe it will be identified by the time you see it!

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