Unknown bug tenants in my extra bag of Mel's Mix! What are they??

Hi everyone.  Ok...  all you bug experts...  I found these dead guys in my extra bag of Mel's Mix.  I was spreading it out for use when I came across these four desiccated beetle looking things:



These are actually quite pretty I think.  Are they good or bad bugs?

They look like the cicadas to me, tree eaters.

Hi there camprn.  Thanks for quick response.  Nice to see you again.  My wife and I had that thought as well.  The size threw us off though.  I just did a Google images search "small blue cicadas" and I came up with similar bugs... not exactly the same... but perhaps the color of these guys intensified after they died.  They look frozen in time... no decomposition.


Sorry about pic.  Should have put a dime next to them.

Oops ... Oh dear, I mean to say that these guys are less than an inch long.  That's what threw us off.  They are tiny.

maybe a type of leaf hopper?
http://bugguide.net/node/view/17004

I'm going to go with leaf hopper because it looks the most like my little guys. I've searched quite a while for a total match... but I give up!  Thanks for your help camprn.

Camprn, you have a sharp eye!  These guys are in fact leaf hoppers.  Take a look at the following webpage:

http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=Oncometopia+orbona&search=Search

While they are quite beautiful (I think anyway), they can be nasty little guys.  I found the following information on wikipedia:

The nymphs feed by inserting their needle-like mouthparts into the xylem of the small stems on the plant where the eggs were deposited; the adults have wings and are highly mobile, and most feed on a variety of different plant species. Both nymphs and adults filter a huge volume of dilute liquid through their digestive system to extract the trace nutrients, and much of the water and carbohydrates are squirted forcibly away from the body in a fine stream of droplets, thus earning them their common name.


Thanks for your help camprn.  These are so beautiful and unlike anything I've seen.  Perhaps I can regularly monitor my plants and peacefully coexist with them.

Glad you found it. I love bugguide.net.

Do they lay eggs and did they lay them in your MM and will you have a bunch hatching in the spring?  They are a pretty color!