Orosius orientalis (Matsumura)

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.

Orosius orientalis (Matsumura 1914)

Subfamily/Tribe: Deltocephalinae: Opsiini

Distribution: NSW, WA, New Guinea, China, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia

Economic Status: This species is the vector of phytoplasma diseases of legumes, sesame and chickpeas in Japan, China, Burma and India.

Notes: A common species in Western Australia although it was also recorded in eastern Australia by Fletcher et al. (2016) where O. orientalis is more common. Orosius argentatus and O. orientalis are extremely similar and critical identification may need to compare CO1 gene sequences. Pale specimens may be confused with O. canberrensis but are usually slightly smaller and narrower. The colour pattern on the vertex, particularly the posterior branching of the transverse black band, seems to be consistently different between the two species.