Scientific name:  Nisia atrovenosa (= carolinensis) (Lethiery)

Common name:  Meenoplid leafhopper

Taxonomy:

Economic importance

The insect is not an important pest of the rice plant. No yield loss to rice caused by this insect is reported.

Geographical distribution

Australia, China, India, Japan, Philippines, and Taiwan.

Morphology

Egg
The eggs are covered with a white thread-like mass. Without the covering, the individual egg is whitish and turns orange with age. One egg mass is 4.2 mm long with an individual egg measuring 1.1 by 0.6 mm.

Nymph
The first instar nymph has a grayish body. Its body is 0.5 mm long. The head is darker than the rest of the body. The eyes are very dark and sometimes reddish. The thorax is well divided into three parts separated horizontally by a whitish line. The legs have the same coloration as the head.

Mature nymphs are darker than the younger instars. They have distinct wing pads. The insects have very black eyes, the antennal pedicel is enlarged, and lateral carinae and two median carinae are present on the frons.

The insect is humpbacked. The thorax is distinctly divided into the prothorax, mesothorax, and metathorax by whitish dust. Its abdominal segment is separated by distinct dust.

The mature nymph is 1.6 mm long.

Adult
The adult of the meenoplid hopper is whitish or pale gray. It has very distinct black eyes. The frons has no median carina but has brownish black granulated lateral carinae, which are distinctly elevated. The antennae have large pedicels. The abdomen is brownish and covered with waxy secretion from the venter of the abdomen.

The legs are brownish with waxy secretions. The second tarsal segment of the hind leg has a row of spines.

The wings are whitish with claval veins granulated on the fore wings. The veins of the fore wings are distinctly brownish black and a pterostigma is absent.

The male is 1.7 mm long, whereas the female is 2 mm long.

Symptoms

Excessive feeding causes yellowing of the leaves and eventually wilting of the host plant.

Biology and ecology

The eggs of N. atrovenosa are laid in masses covered with white waxy thread-like structures. Egg incubation takes 5.4 days. The mass covering gets separated from a glue-like adhesion and newly hatched nymphs appear and start to aggregate near the base of the host plant.

The insect passes through five nymphal instars in 22.4 days. The nymphs either stay at the base of the plant or on dried leaves or newly wilting leaves of the host plant.

The females usually emerge ahead of the male adults. Both are strong fliers. Just like their nymphs, the adults either stay at the base or on the surface of the leaves. The female adult lives longer (12.1 days) than the male adult (9.4 days). The female can lay as many as 44.4 individual eggs.

Host range

Its host plants include Andropogon aciculatus (Retz.) Trin., Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, Cymbopogon sp., Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers., Cyperus rotundus L., C. iria L., Eragrostis sp., Oryza sativa L., and Saccharum officinarum L.

Detection and inspection

Its whitish appearance and granulated veins on its fore wings can identify the insect.

Selected references

Dela Cruz C, Litsinger JA. 1967. Host plant range of the planthopper Nisia atrovenosa. Int. Rice Res. Newsl. 11(2):26-27.

Grist DH, Lever RJAW. 1969. Pests of rice. London: Longmans, Green and Co. 520 p.

Mitchell WC, Madison PA. 1983. Pests of taro. In: Taro A. Review of Colocasia esculenta and its potentials. Honolulu, Haw. (USA): University of Hawaii Press. p 180-223.

Wilson MR, Claridge MF. 1991. Handbook for the identification of leafhoppers and planthoppers of rice. Wallingford, Oxon (UK): CAB International. 142 p.

Yang C, Yang J, Tsaur S, Wilson MR, Fang S, Yang M, Chao J. 1986. Collected papers on Homoptera of Taiwan. Taiwan Museum Special Publication Series No. 6. Taipei (Taiwan): Taiwan Museum.