Life stages: eggs, nymphs and adults.
Aster leafhoppers infesting potatoes in Ontario originate from two sources: overwintering eggs laid in winter cereals and adults carried from the southern United States by upper-level winds. Because the aster leafhopper does not reproduce on potatoes, only adults infest the crop. This insect does not inject a toxin or cause hopperburn damage, but does transmit a phytoplasma that causes aster yellows and purple top (see page 111).

Adults are green and have 6 black spots arranged in pairs on the front of the head. Aster leafhoppers are 3 mm long, slightly larger than potato leafhoppers.
Purple top causes bunching of apical growth and upward rolling of leaflets, which develop a purple pigmentation.