Graphocephala coccinea

Abstract: Xylella fastidiosa is the causative agent of diseases of perennial plants including peach, plum, elm, oak, pecan, and grape. This bacterial pathogen is transmitted by xylem-feeding insects. In recent years, Pierce's disease of grape has been detected in 10 counties in central and northeastern Oklahoma, prompting further investigation of the disease epidemiology in this state. We surveyed vineyards and tree nurseries in Oklahoma for potential insect vectors to determine species composition, infectivity, and natural inoculativity of commonly captured insect vectors. Yellow sticky cards were used to sample insect fauna at each location. Insects were removed from sticky cards and screened for X. fastidiosa using immunocapture-PCR to determine their infectivity. A second objective was to test the natural inoculativity of insect vectors that are found in vineyards. Graphocephala versuta (Say), Graphocephala coccinea (Forster), Paraulacizes irrorata (F.), Oncometopia orbona (F.), Cuerna costalis (F.), and Entylia carinata Germar were collected from vineyards and taken back to the lab to determine their natural inoculativity. Immunocapture-PCR was used to test plant and insect samples for presence of X. fastidiosa. The three most frequently captured species from vineyards and tree nurseries were G. versuta, Clastoptera xanthocephala Germar, and O. orbona. Of those insects screened for X. fastidiosa, 2.4% tested positive for the bacterium. Field-collected G. versuta were inoculative to both ragweed and alfalfa. Following a 7-d inoculation access period, a higher percentage of alfalfa became infected than ragweed. Results from this study provide insight into the epidemiology of X. fastidiosa in Oklahoma.

Abstract: Although the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) has been confirmed to cause economic losses to numerous fruit crop species in the southeastern U.S. since 1933, no science-based information is available on the occurrence of infection in economic fruit crops grown in Alabama, as well as the presence of effective Xf vectors in the state. An investigation to identify the sharpshooter (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) fauna and to determine their occurrence in selected orchards and vineyards was conducted in Alabama during 2008–2009. Leafhoppers were trapped in three different geographic locations: in the Gulf Coast, Central, and North Alabama. Seven species of sharpshooters were identified, including: Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar), H. insolita (Walker), Oncometopia orbona (Fabricius), Paraulacizes irrorata (Fabricius), Graphocephala coccinea (Forster), Graphocephala versuta (Say), and Draeculacephala spp. H. vitripennis and G. versuta were the most prevalent species in Alabama orchards and vineyards; however, their...

Abstract: THE study of animal introductions and their fate provides an object lesson in ecology1. Some, as the leafhopper Graphocephala coccinea, become permanent elements of the British fauna; others, as the tingid Stephanitis rhododendri, achieve an initial spread but later contract; still others, such as the rhopalid Liorhyssus hyalinus, can do no more than maintain an occasional very temporary colony in Britain. The present communication concerns a conspicuous mirid bug, Deraeocoris olivaceus, which it is timely to map after a space of ten years. It occurs on Crataegus (hawthorn), usually becomes adult during July, and is collected by beating; its biology is known in broad outline2.