Florodelphax leptosoma - a new planthopper for VC55

I recently picked up a useful field tip. If you're like me, there are certain species which you know well but can never remember the names of. The trick is to give them a name you can remember, then look them up when you get home. Among the hoppers (Auchenorrhyncha), the Planthoppers (family Delphacidae) are easy to assign to a family (large, apical movable spur on the hind tibiae), but mostly tricky to identify to species level. One exception is Conomelus anceps, which I find at almost every site I visit - but can never remember the name of:

I have been able to resolve this difficult by christening them "Minions". Problem solved. 

On a recent trip to New Lount, a few small dark Minions stood out from the crowd in the tray. On examination, these turned out to be Florodelphax leptosoma:

This is a fairly common species found in a wide range of wetland habitats across the UK, but the fact that it has never been recorded previously in VC55 points to how seriously under-recorded the Auchenorrhyncha are as a group.