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The two-spotted leafhopper, Sophonia orientalis, (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae): a new threat to European vineyards

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A Correction to this article was published on 17 December 2022

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Abstract

Hemiptera are the second insect order with the highest proportion of exotic species in Europe. The main disease vectors in vineyards are introduced species of leafhoppers. The Asian two-spotted leafhopper has been recorded once on grapevines, but its relationship to this crop was unknown. More than 90 000 specimens were collected during a 9-year monitoring period with yellow-sticky traps on Madeira Island. This material and visual counts of nymphs on leaves confirm for the first time that grapevine is its host plant and that populations in vineyards are large throughout the grapevine growing season. Additional sampling to determine its current distribution range in Europe shows that it is spreading rapidly in the Macaronesian archipelagos and in the Iberian Peninsula, having already reached the French border. Twenty-four new food plants in Europe are reported with ornamentals being the most likely invasion pathway. Fieldwork observations from science platforms show that it breeds throughout the year between 10º and 38º latitude. These data, together with its good performance in wide environmental conditions and a history of previous successful invasions, strongly suggest that this species is a new threat to European vineyards. Control measures and more studies on plant damage and its potential for pathogen transmission are proposed.

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Acknowledgements

We are indebted to the technicians of the Secretaria Regional do Ambiente (SRA) and Instituto do Vinho, do Bordado e do Artesanato da Madeira, I.P. (IVBAM) for making available to us the samples they collected during the period analysed. We thank Albano Soares and Mirella Zeeders for their kindness in providing us with data on the presence of leafhoppers in Lisbon and Mallorca, respectively. We also thank Cecilia Díaz and Verónica Iglesias for their help with GIS. This project was financed by the SRA and IVBAM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade da Madeira, 9000-390, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal

    Dora Aguin-Pombo

  2. Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, CIBIO, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Dora Aguin-Pombo

  3. Secretaria Regional de Agricultura e Desenvolvimento Rural, Laboratório de Qualidade Agrícola Camacha, Madeira, Portugal

    António M. F. Aguiar & Délia Cravo

  4. Servicio de Fauna y Flora. Departamento de Acción Climática, Alimentación y Agenda rural. Generalitat de Cataluña, Barcelona, Spain

    Adrià Miralles-Nuñez

  5. Departamento de Entomología, Servicios Depec, Nena Casas 71, 08017, Barcelona, Spain

    Noemí Luque-Arnau

  6. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Noemí Luque-Arnau

  7. Aachrain 1, 87534, Oberstaufen, Germany

    Pablo Valero

  8. IRTA, Institut de Recerca I Tecnologies Agroalimentaries, Protecció Vegetal Sostenible. Cabrils, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Sabaté

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  1. Dora Aguin-Pombo
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  2. António M. F. Aguiar
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All authors contributed to the study. Material preparation and data collection were performed by all authors. The first draft of the manuscript was written by D. Aguín-Pombo and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dora Aguin-Pombo.

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Aguin-Pombo, D., Aguiar, A.M.F., Cravo, D. et al. The two-spotted leafhopper, Sophonia orientalis, (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae): a new threat to European vineyards. Appl Entomol Zool 58, 45–57 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13355-022-00802-9

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