ID/Diagnostic: Morphological
Morphological.
Laodelphax striatellus can be distinguished from other delphacids present in the United States using a combination of three key characters found on the adult male (Wilson and Claridge, 1991):
- pterostigma on the forewing (present and distinct)
- mesonotum (black and shiny)
- aedeagus and parameres of the genitalia
Dissection of male genitalia is required for identification. Any suspect positive samples must be confirmed by a taxonomic expert for definitive identification.
For additional guidance, see the keys and images in Wilson and Claridge (1991) and the images on the
Laodelphax page on the Planthoppers of North America website (Bartlett, 2018). See CPHST Pest datasheet for references and website URL.
Mistaken Identities:
Other delphacids in the United States that infest rice include Tagosodes orizicolus and Metadelphax propinquus (Cherry et al., 1986). Tagosodes orizicolus also transmits Rice hoja blanca virus (Morales and Niessen, 1985). On corn, the planthopper Peregrinus maidis is found in the U.S. and transmits Maize mosaic virus (MMV) (Manandhar and Wright, 2016). Sogatella kolophon is also found on barley and corn (Wilson, 2005; Bartlett, 2018). Javesella pellucida, another delphacid that is present in the U.S., is found in wheat, barley, and corn (Bartlett, 2018). Javesella pellucida is also a vector of Oat sterile dwarf virus (OSDV), European wheat striate mosaic virus (EWSMV), and Maize rough dwarf virus (MRDV) (Bartlett, 2018). See CPHST Pest datasheet for references.