Glassy-winged sharpshooter

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Glassy-winged sharpshooter
Homalodisca vitripennis 1355010.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Auchenorrhyncha
Family: Cicadellidae
Subfamily: Cicadellinae
Tribe: Proconiini
Genus: Homalodisca
Species:
H. vitripennis
Binomial name
Homalodisca vitripennis
(Germar, 1821)
Synonyms   [1]
  • Tettigonia vitripennisGermar, 1821
  • Tettigonia coagulataSay, 1832
  • Homalodisca coagulata(Say, 1832)

The glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca vitripennis, formerly known as H. coagulata) is a large leafhopper (family Cicadellidae), similar to other species of sharpshooter.

Contents

Description

Glassy-winged sharpshooter underside Glassy-winged sharpshooter underside.jpg
Glassy-winged sharpshooter underside

These sharpshooters are about 12 millimetres (0.5 in) in length. Their color is dark brown to black with black-and-yellow undersides, with yellow eyes, and the upper parts of the head and back are speckled with ivory or yellowish spots. The wings are transparent with reddish veins. [2]

They have piercing, sucking mouthparts and rows of fine spines on their hind legs.

Distribution

It is native to North America (northeastern Mexico), but it was accidentally introduced into Southern California in the early 1990s, probably with ornamental or agricultural stock. There it has become an agricultural pest especially to viticulture. [1]

Glassy-winged sharpshooters usually lay a mass of eggs on the underside of leaves, and they cover them with powdery white protective secretions kept in dry form (called "brochosomes") on the wings. After the nymphs hatch, the remaining egg mass leaves a brown mark on the leaf's surface. The nymphs feed within the vascular system of the small stems on the plant where the eggs were deposited. After several molts, the nymphs become adult glassy-winged sharpshooters. [2]

The glassy-winged sharpshooter feeds on a wide variety of plants. Scientists estimate the host plants for this sharpshooter include over 70 different plant species. Among the hosts are grapes, citrus trees, almonds, stone fruit, and oleanders. Because of the large number of hosts, glassy-winged sharpshooter populations are able to flourish in both agricultural and urban areas. They feed on a plant by inserting their needle-like mouth parts into the plant's xylem. While feeding, sharpshooters squirt small droplets of waste from the anus (filtered xylem fluid, basically water with trace solutes, especially carbohydrates), often called "leafhopper rain." These droplets are messy and, when the water evaporates, leave a residue that gives plants and fruit a whitewashed appearance. [2]

Their feeding method, along with their voracious appetite for so many different hosts, makes glassy-winged sharpshooters an effective vector for the Xylella fastidiosa bacterium. Once the sharpshooter feeds on an infected plant, X. fastidiosa colonizes it by forming a biofilm on its mouth-parts. [3] The sharpshooter then transmits the disease to additional plants while feeding. A plant that is not affected by any of the diseases caused by X. fastidiosa becomes a reservoir, holding the bacterium for other sharpshooters to pick up and carry to other plants. X. fastidiosa is linked to many plant diseases, including phoney peach disease in the southern United States, oleander leaf scorch and Pierce's disease in California, and citrus X disease in Brazil. [2]

Management

Successful efforts using integrated pest management (IPM) of the glassy-winged sharpshooter include the use of insecticides, parasitoids (especially wasps in the family Mymaridae), and the impact of naturally occurring pathogens like viruses, bacteria, and fungi. [ citation needed ]

One of the newly discovered pathogens is a virus specific to sharpshooters. The leafhopper-infecting virus, Homalodisca coagulata virus-1 (HoCV-1, Dicistroviridae ), has been shown to increase leafhopper mortality. [4] [5] The virus occurs in nature and is spread most readily at high population densities through contact among infected individuals, contact with virus-contaminated surfaces, and/or as an aerosol in leafhopper excreta. [5]

One of the most successful biocontrol efforts has been the mass rearing and release of four different leafhopper parasitoids (in the mymarid genus Gonatocerus ), which have been very successful in reducing the number of eggs that survive.

The traditional means of insect management, such as scouting and land owner reports of leafhopper presence, followed by highly focused insecticide treatments, have also been of great value in reducing leafhopper numbers; all of these impacts have produced a system wherein reasonable, environmentally sound management of this insect pest is being maintained.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hemiptera</span> Order of insects often called true bugs

Hemiptera is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from 1 mm (0.04 in) to around 15 cm (6 in), and share a common arrangement of piercing-sucking mouthparts. The name "true bugs" is often limited to the suborder Heteroptera.

<i>Dicistroviridae</i> Family of viruses

Dicistroviridae is a family of viruses in the order Picornavirales. Invertebrates, including aphids, leafhoppers, flies, bees, ants, and silkworms, serve as natural hosts. There are 15 species in this family, assigned to three genera. Diseases associated with this family include: DCV: increased reproductive potential. extremely pathogenic when injected with high associated mortality. CrPV: paralysis and death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leafhopper</span> Family of insects

A leafhopper is the common name for any species from the family Cicadellidae. These minute insects, colloquially known as hoppers, are plant feeders that suck plant sap from grass, shrubs, or trees. Their hind legs are modified for jumping, and are covered with hairs that facilitate the spreading of a secretion over their bodies that acts as a water repellent and carrier of pheromones. They undergo a partial metamorphosis, and have various host associations, varying from very generalized to very specific. Some species have a cosmopolitan distribution, or occur throughout the temperate and tropical regions. Some are pests or vectors of plant viruses and phytoplasmas. The family is distributed all over the world, and constitutes the second-largest hemipteran family, with at least 20,000 described species.

A trade gallon is a unit of volume for standard plant containers in the horticultural industries. It equals 3 US liquid quarts or 0.75 US gallons, although some sources state that a trade gallon equals 2.7 litres (0.71 US gal).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brochosome</span> Microscopic granules secreted by leafhoppers

Brochosomes are intricately structured microscopic granules secreted by leafhoppers and typically found on their body surface and, more rarely, eggs. Brochosomes were first described in 1952 with the aid of an electron microscope. Brochosomes are hydrophobic and help keep the insect cuticle clean. These particles have also been found in samples of air and can easily contaminate foreign objects, which explains erroneous reports of brochosomes on other insects.

<i>Xylella fastidiosa</i> Bacteria harming plants, including crops

Xylella fastidiosa is an aerobic, Gram-negative bacterium of the genus Xylella. It is a plant pathogen, that grows in the water transport tissues of plants' and is transmitted exclusively by xylem sap-feeding insects such as sharpshooters and spittlebugs. Many plant diseases are due to infections of X. fastidiosa, including bacterial leaf scorch, oleander leaf scorch, coffee leaf scorch (CLS), alfalfa dwarf, phony peach disease, and the economically important Pierce's disease of grapes (PD), olive quick decline syndrome (OQDS), and citrus variegated chlorosis (CVC). While the largest outbreaks of X. fastidiosa–related diseases have occurred in the Americas and Europe, this pathogen has also been found in Taiwan, Israel, and a few other countries worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairyfly</span> Family of wasps

The Mymaridae, commonly known as fairyflies or fairy wasps, are a family of chalcidoid wasps found in temperate and tropical regions throughout the world. The family contains around 100 genera with 1,400 species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharpshooter (insect)</span> Tribe of true bugs

The name sharpshooter is used to refer to any of various genera and species of large leafhoppers in the tribe Proconiini of the family Cicadellidae. As with all cicadellids, they have piercing-sucking mouthparts and closely spaced rows of fine spines on their hind legs. The nymphs feed by inserting their needle-like mouthparts into the xylem of the small stems on the plant where the eggs were deposited; the adults have wings and are highly mobile, and most feed on a variety of different plant species. Both nymphs and adults filter a huge volume of dilute liquid through their digestive system to extract the trace nutrients, and much of the water and carbohydrates are squirted forcibly away from the body in a fine stream of droplets, thus earning them their common name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beet leafhopper</span> Species of insect

The beet leafhopper, also sometimes known as Neoaliturus tenellus, is a species of leafhopper which belongs to the family Cicadellidae in the order Hemiptera.

<i>Graphocephala coccinea</i> Species of true bug

Graphocephala coccinea is a meadow and woodland-dwelling species of brightly colored leafhopper native to North and Central America, from Canada south to Panama. Common names include candy-striped leafhopper, red-banded leafhopper, scarlet-and-green leafhopper and red-and-blue leafhopper.

<i>Homalodisca</i> Genus of leafhoppers

Homalodisca is a genus of sharpshooters in the family Cicadellidae and tribe Proconiini. It contains a significant pest species, the glassy-winged sharpshooter.

<i>Empoasca decipiens</i> Species of true bug

Empoasca decipiens is a species of leafhopper belonging to the family Cicadellidae subfamily Typhlocybinae. The adults reach 3–4 millimetres (0.12–0.16 in) of length and a are homogenously green with whitish markings on its pronotum and vertex. E. decipiens is commonly referred to as the “green leafhopper” because of its colouration. The absence of clear stripes along the forewings can easily distinguish it from the similar leafhopper species E. vitis, but distinguishing it from other leafhoppers with the same colouration requires examination under a microscope. It is present in most of Europe, in the eastern Palearctic realm, in North Africa, in the Near East, and in the Afrotropical realm. Both nymphs and adults of this small insect are considered to be a very destructive pests on field crops, vegetables and greenhouse plants.

<i>Gonatocerus triguttatus</i> Species of wasp

Gonatocerus triguttatus is a species of fairyfly. It is an egg parasitoid of the glassy-winged sharpshooter, Homalodisca vitripennis. It was originally described from Caroni County, Trinidad.

<i>Gonatocerus ashmeadi</i> Species of wasp

Gonatocerus ashmeadi is a species of fairyfly. Its natural range is Florida, Louisiana, northeastern Mexico, Mississippi, North Carolina, eastern Texas, and southern and central California.

<i>Aphis nerii</i> Species of true bug

Aphis nerii is an aphid of the family Aphididae. Its common names include oleander aphid, milkweed aphid, sweet pepper aphid, and nerium aphid.

<i>Japananus hyalinus</i> Species of true bug

Japananus hyalinus, the Japanese maple leafhopper, is a species of leafhopper of the subfamily Deltocephalinae and tribe Opsiini. Believed to be native to eastern Asia, it has been carried with the trade in cultivated maples and is now widely found in Europe, North America and Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potato leafhopper</span> Species of true bug

Potato leafhopper belongs to family Cicadellidae and genus Empoasca within order Hemiptera. In North America they are a serious agricultural pest. Every year millions of dollars are lost from reduced crop yields and on pest management. Crops that are impacted the most are potatoes, clover, beans, apples and alfalfa.

Amrasca biguttula, commonly known as the cotton jassid, is a subspecies of leafhopper belonging to the subfamily Typhlocybinae of family Cicadellidae. It is a pest of cotton, okra, and other crops in southern Asia and West Africa.

Pecan bacterial leaf scorch is a disease of the pecan tree that is common throughout the production regions of the United States caused by the pathogenic bacterium Xylella fastidiosa subsp. multiplex. The pathogen was initially discovered to be coincidentally associated with symptoms of pecan fungal leaf scorch in 1998 and has subsequently been found to be endemic in the southeastern United States, as well as Arizona, California, and New Mexico.

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The 2020 table grape harvest was worth $2.12 billion while wine grapes brought in $1.7 billion, down 15.3% year-on-year. By weight this was 17% lower versus 2018. The next year, 2021 saw a much better yield. From 829,000 acres (335,000 ha) viniculturists got 6.94 short tons per acre (15.6 t/ha) for a total harvest of 5,755,000 short tons (5,221,000 t). At an average of $909 per short ton ($1,002/t) they were paid $5,229,902,000 for the season. Of that, 4,844,600 short tons (4,394,900 t) were for destined for processing industries and at $835 per short ton ($920/t) that was worth $4,046,382,000. The fresh harvest was 910,400 short tons (825,900 t) and selling at a price of $1,300 per short ton ($1,433/t), this sector was worth $1,183,520,000 for the season.

References

  1. 1 2 Daniela M. Takiya; Stuart H. McKamey; Rodney R. Cavichioli (2006). "Validity of Homalodisca and of H. vitripennis as the name for glassy-winged sharpshooter (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Cicadellinae)". Annals of the Entomological Society of America . 99 (4): 648–655. doi: 10.1603/0013-8746(2006)99[648:vohaoh]2.0.co;2 .
  2. 1 2 3 4 APHIS. 2002. Glassy-winged Sharpshooter and Pierce's Disease in California Archived 2006-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Patterns of Xylella fastidiosa Colonization on the Precibarium of Sharpshooter Vectors Relative to Transmission to Plants" (PDF). Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  4. W. B. Hunter; C. S. Katsar; J. X. Chaparro (2006). "Molecular analysis of capsid protein of Homalodisca coagulata virus-1, a new leafhopper-infecting virus from the glassy-winged sharpshooter, Homalodisca coagulata". Journal of Insect Science . 6 (28): 1–10. doi:10.1673/2006_06_28.1. PMC   2990318 . PMID   19537993. Archived from the original on 2010-03-03.
  5. 1 2 Laura E. Hunnicutt; Wayne B. Hunter; Ronald D. Cave; Charles A. Powell; Jerry J. Mozoruk (2006). "Genome sequence and molecular characterization of Homalodisca coagulata virus-1, a novel virus discovered in the glassy-winged sharpshooter (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) l". Virology . 350 (1): 67–78. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2006.02.034 . PMID   16574186.

Further reading