Species Perkinsiella saccharicida Kirkaldy, 1903

Perkinsiella saccharacida Kirkaldy, adult

© Copyright Murray Fletcher, Orange Agricultural Institute.

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Regional Maps

• Perkinsiella saccharicida Kirkaldy, G.W. 1903. Miscellanea Rhynchotalia No. 7. The Entomologist 36: 179-181 [179].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) BPBM ♂, ♀, quantity unknown, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii.

Introduction

This is the best known vector of Fiji Leafgall Disease of Sugarcane. The species was introduced to Hawaii in 1903 and caused severe stunting of sugarcane until an egg predator, Tytthus mundulus Breddin (Hemiptera: Miridae) was introduced from Australia following collecting visits by Arthur Koebele and R.C.L. Perkins between June 1904 and March 1905. These visits were documented by Kirkaldy (1906, 1907) who described a significant proportion of the known Australian leafhopper and planthopper fauna. A summary of the impact of P. saccharicida on Hawaii was published by Perkins (1903) and a comprehensive report on the history, economic impact and biology of the incursion by Van Dine (1904). It wasn't until 1932 that it was determined that Fiji Leafgall Disease was caused by a pathogen transmiited by species of Perkinsiella rather than by the feeding of the planthopper alone (Ocfemia 1932).

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld: Central Mackay Coast (CMC), NSW North Coast (NNC), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

All stages: phloem feeder, vector.

Extra Ecological Information

P. saccharacida is a known vector of Fiji Leafgall Disease of sugarcane in Australia and elsewhere.

Diagnosis

Testaceous, lateral margins of pronotum and scutellum dark brown, basal half of frons and most of the clypeus light brown, the former with 2 or 3 short narrow interrupted transverse pale lines near the base. A large black spot on anterior coxae, intermediate coxae and mesopleura each; abdomen black variegated with testaceous. Apex of first segment of antennae black, second segment brownish. Tegmina hyaline, commissure whitish. Anterior and intermediate tibiae annulate with blackish. Male always macropterous; the 5th and 6th (and sometimes the 4th) apical cells dark smoky, the stripe being sometimes continued very narrowly to the base of the tegmen. Genital segments mostly black. Female dimorphic (with intermediate forms); long winged form with the tegminal stripe usually broader on the corium; short winged form much stouter, with hyaline tegmina, a short narrow black line close to apex of clavus. Genital segments pale. Length: 5–5 7/8 mm (macropterous; 4 mm (brachypterous). (Kirkaldy 1906)

ID Keys

Kirkaldy 1906: 405

Diagnosis References

Kirkaldy, G.W. 1906. Leafhoppers and their natural enemies. Bulletin of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Experimental Station Entomological Series 1(9): 271-479 [406]

General References

Ocfemia, G.O. 1932. [untitled]. The Philippine Agriculturist 21(5): 358 [358]

Perkins, R.C.L. 1903. The leafhopper of the sugar cane. Bulletin of the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry, Hawaii, Division of Entomology 1: 1–38

Van Dine, D.L. 1904. A sugar-cane leaf-hopper in Hawaii. Bulletin of the Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station 5: 1–29

Common Name References

Naumann, I. 1993. CSIRO Handbook of Australian Insect Names. Common and Scientific Names for Insects and Allied Organisms of Economic and Environmental Importance. Melbourne : CSIRO Publications v 200 pp. [Date published 31/12/1993] [114] (Sugarcane Planthopper)

History of changes