OK, thanks much "Pineisland", I will look into that and it sounds probable you are right. Today I did notice when I took some of the bugs off they hopped about 5" and then opened their wings and flew away. You can smash them but their bodies are a bit solid so I prefer to wear gloves.
Hi Doug, I have learned that as well, that anything out of its environment will get attacked. My mangoes and avocados do great but the cacao are a bit harder because of the bugs and longer dry season I have at my altitude. My two varieties of cacao they said are resistant (my yellow B1 a CR variety) and the well known red (ICS-95), however I'm not sure if this is resistant to just fungus, or pests as well. I will have to check into it with CATIE, however at this point it may be a bit late in the game on varieties as I don't want to start over changing them all out as I am already established with my trees now at 5 years.
Update...
You were correct Pineisland. I'm not sure exactly which sub family but I think it is one of these three as the body shape and other characteristics all match. Here is photo of the last one you can see how similar it is. Now since I never see these by themselves, only with the ants help I guess I'm back to trying to get rid of the ants.
Stictopelta marmorata · Stictopelta nova · Stictopelta pulchella · Stictopelta varians
Treehoppers (Membracidae) » Smiliinae » Polyglyptini » Publilia » Publilia brunnea
Treehoppers (Membracidae) » Smiliinae » Smiliini » Ophiderma » pubescens or definita, per M.S. Wallace (Ophiderma pubescens or definita, per M.S. Wallace)