Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 July 2009
The adult Auchenorrhyncha community within the understorey of a montane tropical forest in Vietnam is described A total of 1132 specimens representing 223 morphospecies and 16 families was found in a 4300-sweep sample None of the species exceeded the 5% dominance level More than half the species are represented by single individuals within the 309 ms of vegetation Spatial community pattern is mosaic like at a scale of hundreds of metres as the similarity of 100 sweep samples does not depend on their spatial distance Areas 1 5–3 km distant from one another differ markedly in their Auchenorrhyncha communities These between-site differences exceed the intra-site community heterogeneity Population density of Auchenorrhyncha species is not correlated with their body size The Auchenorrhyncha community within a forest markedly differs from the community of an adjacent ruderal area A transitional zone between these habitats is intermediate in Auchenorrhyncha species composition