Green Rice Leafhopper
Nephotettix virescens
📖 Description
Green Rice Leafhopper is a major rice pest in South and Southeast Asia primarily because it transmits Rice Tungro Virus complex (RTBV + RTSV), the most devastating viral disease of rice in the region. The leafhopper acquires the virus after feeding on infected plants for as little as 5-30 minutes and can transmit it for life. Even small populations can cause catastrophic losses by spreading the disease. Direct feeding damage causes yellowing and empty grains, but virus transmission accounts for most economic loss. Tungro outbreaks are typically associated with asynchronous rice planting and the presence of infected volunteer rice.
⚠️ Symptoms to watch for
- Yellowing and drying of leaf tips
- empty grains at panicle stage
- stunting
- transmission of Rice Tungro Virus (most damaging aspect)
- orange-yellow discoloration of leaves
- reduced tillering
🩹 Treatment
- Apply neem oil 5ml/L
- use systemic insecticides at vegetative stage to prevent virus transmission
- set up light traps
- rotate crops to break cycle
- control weed hosts
🌿 Organic treatments
- Apply neem oil 5ml/L
- set up light traps @ 1/ha
- release green mirid bug Cyrtorhinus lividipennis
- apply Metarhizium anisopliae
- grow trap crops
- remove volunteer rice
🧪 Chemical treatments
- Imidacloprid 17.8 SL @ 0.5 ml/L
- Thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 0.4 g/L
- Fipronil 5 SC @ 1 ml/L
- Carbaryl 50 WP @ 2 g/L (use sparingly
- rotate modes of action)
🛡️ Prevention
- Plant resistant varieties (IR64
- Pusa 44)
- synchronous planting to break vector cycle
- remove volunteer rice and ratoons
- control grassy weeds
- conserve natural enemies
- avoid broad-spectrum insecticides that kill predators
- use tungro-resistant varieties like Pusa 1169
🪴 Affected plants
- Rice
- Wild Rice
- Grasses (Poaceae)
🦋 Natural predators
- Green Mirid Bug
- Spiders
- Ladybird Beetles
- Damselflies
- Dragonflies
🌱 Host plants
- Oryza sativa
- Oryza rufipogon
- Echinochloa crus-galli
- Leersia hexandra
🔄 Lifecycle
- Female lays 20-80 eggs inside leaf sheaths.
- Eggs hatch in 7-12 days.
- Nymphs pass through 5 instars in 15-20 days.
- Adults live 20-30 days.
- Total life cycle 25-40 days; 6-8 generations per year in tropical conditions.
📅 Season
- Year-round in tropics, peak during Jul-Sep and Jan-Mar rice seasons
🔎 Appearance
- Small, bright green wedge-shaped leafhoppers with black spots on the head and wings.
- Two black spots on the vertex distinguish from related species.
- Nymphs are pale green with developing wing pads.
💥 Damage level
- High
🔁 Reproduction rate
- Rapid
🗺️ Geographic regions
- Indian Subcontinent
- Southeast Asia
- East Asia
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