Biosecurity threat, not present in Australia
Edwardsiana flavescens (Fabricius)
Rose leafhopper
Caution
Many of the insects depicted on these pages are outwardly similar and you should not use photographs as the sole means of identification. These pages form part of a scientific key which will assist a trained entomologist to identify the species accurately.
Edwardsiana flavescens (Fabricius 1794) = Empoasca flavescens
Common Name: Rose leafhopper, Hemp leafhopper, tea jassid.
Subfamily/Tribe: Typhlocybinae/ Typhlocybini
Distribution: The native range of Edwardsiana flavescens is unknown. It has been recorded throughout Europe, in India, and introduced to US and, possibly, Canada. However there have been misidentifications of this and closely related species, previously (Qin et al. 2015), creating additional confusion.
Economic Status: A polyphagous leafhopper of woody plants, Edwardsiana flavescens has been recorded as a pest of hemp in Europe and the US, tea and mulberry in India, beets in Italy and celery in the USA. As such, it is a declared prohibited pest in Western Australia (see https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/organisms/84036 ) and features on the PADIL biosecurity site for New Zealand. It is also known as a pest of ornamental trees, such as beech trees, where feeding damage is most obvious in the leaves (Alford 2012).
Notes: Edwardsiana flavescens was erroneously recorded from Australia by Dmitriev (2003). There is only one species of the genus represented in Australia, Edwardsiana froggatti. These species look remarkably similar and can only confidently be separated by examination of male genitalia.
Image: Gernot Kunz website (used with permission)