Nephotettix virescens (Distant)
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.
Nephotettix virescens (Distant
1908)
Common Name: Green Rice Leafhopper
Subfamily/Tribe: Deltocephalinae: Chiasmini
Distribution: NT, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, Burma, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan.
Economic Status: This species may be better known under the name N. impicticeps which was synonymised with N. virescens by Ghauri (1971). The species is a vector of rice yellow dwarf virus in Japan and rice tungro disease in the Philippines. It is not a vector of rice stunt virus (Nielson 1968)
Notes: This species was first identified on mainland Australia from rice near Darwin in 1985 and identified by M.S.K. Ghauri who had published a revision of the genus a few years previously (Ghauri 1971). No further specimens were collected and it is presumed that the species had not become established. A second specimen was collected in May 2000, also on rice near Darwin. Whether the species has now established on mainland Australia is unknown.
The species can be differentiated from other species of Nephotettix known from Australia by the relatively longer vertex and the complete absence of dark markings from the vertex. Confirmation of identification requires an examination of the male genitalia.
