Thursday, Apr 17, 2025
Tiny Bug. Big News.
Written by Hannah Jacobowitz, MNA Communications Intern
Last summer, MNA staff embarked on a survey effort to learn more about the various insects that call our sanctuaries home. Working alongside the Michigan Natural Features Inventory, we have been steadily making our way through the samples collected – with some surprising results! Most recently, one exciting find has been the presence of the Huron River leafhopper (Flexamia huroni), a small, plant-feeding endangered insect state-designated as critically imperiled, and closely associated with the presence of mat muhly, a similarly threatened plant species in the state of Michigan.
Huron River leafhoppers are one of only two known insect species to be endemic to Michigan, meaning that this is the only state in which they occur. Up until now, there have only been six locations in which these leafhoppers have ever been found – five in Oakland County, and one in the Upper Peninsula. However, this marks the first time they have been observed in a new location in Oakland County – bringing the total up to seven!
In general, leafhoppers play a vital role in prairie and wetland ecosystems, acting as important food sources for birds and other insects. However, they also serve as important indicators for conservationists as to the health of these ecosystems, and the often endangered species that reside within them. “I guess you could say they’re the canary in the coal mine,” says Andrew Myers, MNA's conservation scientist who led the survey. Andrew, who holds a Ph.D. in Entomology from MSU where he studied monarch butterfly conservation, has been leading MNA's ecological integrity assessment efforts. “They’re kind of representative of the leading edge of a larger phenomenon.”
The presence of this rarely-seen species is a hopeful sign towards the recovery of the fens from which they originate, with these mineral rich, wetland ecosystems being home to some of the most biodiverse natural communities Michigan has to offer. So while the discovery of one little bug might seem small, it has been a heartening encouragement to continue to expand both our conservation and survey efforts in the years to come.
“If the leafhoppers are doing well, then I think that points to the fact that we’re doing a good job maintaining the fen and the vegetation,” says Myers. “We burn, we remove shrubs, we try to take care of other invasive species, so that we can maintain the flora associated with a fen that's rare and special, and dependent on this particular type of wetland.”
David Cuthrell, a senior conservation scientist with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory, agrees. “[The first step is to] find where they still occur, and then after we find them, we want to make sure we maintain the habitat so that they will continue well into the future,” says Cuthrell. “So we might find a little pocket somewhere that's surrounded by invasive species – and if we find them in there, then we would go in and manage that and make it a bigger complex to support more of the species and keep them around a lot longer.”