Insect: Potato Leafhopper

Taxonomy:

Distribution:

• Throughout the US

Importance:

• Infrequent pest of early vegetative stage soybean.

Identification:

• Adults are wedge or spindle-shaped, and about an eighth of an inch long.


• They appear bright lime-green to yellow green with white markings.


• Wings are transparent green and are folded back when at rest.


• Have a variable number of white spots on top of their head and along their thorax.


• Nymphs are similar to adults but are smaller and wingless.


• Several nymphal stages occur in the generation.


• Nymphs often walk sideways.

Potato leafhopper adult

Line Art of Potato Leafhopper

Life Cycle:

• Over winter as adults between southern Louisiana and northern Florida.


• Migrate north in the spring on winds in the upper atmosphere.


• In some years, they have been identified as far west as the Panhandle of Nebraska and as far east as Maine.


• Adults live 30-40 days but may live as much as 90 days.


• Females lay 2 to 3 small white eggs per day on stems or large leaf veins.

• Up to 200 eggs per female is possible over her lifetime.


• Eggs hatch in ten days.


• Nymphal stages are short and within 12 days of hatching the nymphs will become adults.


• Adults are able to lay eggs six days later after molting.


• There can be one to three overlapping generations per season in the north-central States.

Host Range:

• Feeds on over 200 species of plants.


• In Nebraska, alfalfa seems to be the preferred host.

Injury & Damage:

• Potato leafhopper damages crops through direct feeding on the sap with its piercing-sucking mouthparts.


• Injury is referred to as "hopperburn."


• This is characterized by discoloration of leaflets starting at the tips and margins.


• Leaves will then crinkle and cup.


• Injury may appear similar to herbicide damage.


• Extensive feeding can result in plants that are stunted.


• The thick pubescence on soybean leaves tends to prevent this small insect from getting close enough to implant its mouthparts.


• However, young plants without heavy pubescence are vulnerable to leafhopper attack.

Monitoring:

• A sweep net is moved vigorously through the foliage in 180 ° arcs at several locations in each field.


• To obtain meaningful, representative estimates of leafhopper abundance, at least 25 sweeps should be taken from each of four locations in each field.


• Soybean fields adjacent to alfalfa fields should be considered at a greater risk from potato leafhopper infestation due to movement when alfalfa is cut.

Management:

• Management steps should be taken when leafhopper populations climb rather than waiting for injury symptoms to appear.


• Various insecticides are labeled for management.


• A list is available at http://entomology.unl.edu/instabls/
  soydefol.pdf

Notes:

• Compiled from several internet available resources


• Photo credit: Marlin Rice.