Sharpshooter threatens Tahiti by inedibility

In a new twist on invasive-species biology, a North American insect is menacing Tahitian ecosystems by getting itself killed and proving surprisingly toxic to its predators.

The invader is a half-inch–long leafhopper called the glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca coagulata). It’s native to the southeastern United States and northern Mexico, but it reached California in the 1980s.