The treehopper family Membracidae is a wild and wacky bunch, the lesser known cousins of the less-than-appealing cicada. The slow process of evolution has led this family of bugs to split off into ...

Moringa horned treehopper "Leptocentrus moringae," photographed in Tamil Nadu, India. (Flickr photo by arian.suresh) When a mosquito lands and begins to feed, the saliva it deposits in the skin stops ...

The Brazilian treehopper (Bocydium globulare) is a small, curious-looking insect from the family Membracidae that inhabits many tropical rainforests in South America. Related to cicadas and ...

Treehoppers are a group of insects distinguished by their impressive head ornamentation -- called a "helmet" -- which often stretches back along the length of their body. The helmets come in a wide ...

Why the treehopper developed the enlarged, three-dimensional hood ornament that distinguishes it from the rest of the insect world remains a mystery to scientists, though it's theorized that mimicry ...

Bocydium globulare, a treehopper with an unusual, helicopter-like helmet. Andreas Kay via Flickr under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 As their name suggests, treehoppers are capable of some amazing acrobatics. But ...

This story appears in the March 2019 issue of National Geographic magazine. If there were a competition for the world’s weirdest insect, treehoppers would have a clear shot at first place. See one for ...