General Information

Common names: Green leafhopper, GLH
Scientific names: Nephotettix cincticeps, N. Malayanus, N. nigropictus, N. virescens
Hemiptera:Cicadellidae

Host plants

The insect feeds primarily on rice. Other host plants are bermuda grass, finger millet, sugarcane, wheat, corn, and wild rice.

Distribution

Nephotettix cincticeps is prevalent in China Japan, Korea, and Taiwan

N. malayanus is found in India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand.

N. nigropictus is found in Cambodia, China, Guam, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Micronesia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

N. virescens is found in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Damage

The nymphs and adults suck the sap of the leaves and the tillers causing the plant to stop growing. The affected plants are stunted with deformed leaves and increased number of tillers. Additional symptoms include the formation of galls. The rice plants also show yellowing or browning of leaves. GLH are carriers of several viral diseases such as tungro, yellow dwarf, and yellow-orange leaf virus. n

Description

Eggs are cylindrical, whitish or pale-yellow and later become brown with red eyespots when the embryos develop. The eggs are laid in masses of 8-16 eggs and hatch within about 4-8 days.

Nymphs are pale-yellow with small spines on the dorsal surface of abdominal segments. They have comma-shaped black lines between the eyes on their blunt head. They feed on the upper surface of the leaf blades in the morning and move to the lower parts in the afternoon. There are five nymphal stages, which last for 25-30 days.

Adults are slender and green and may have black markings on the head or wings. They are less than 13 mm long and have an average life span of 3 weeks. They disperse rapidly when disturbed. Both adults and nymphs run sideways and are good jumpers or hoppers. They are generally found in small numbers at the leaf blade and feed on the upper portion of the rice canopy. A female GLH can lay as many as 200-300 eggs.