Rice Green Leafhopper (Tungro Vector)
Nephotettix virescens
📖 Description
Rice Green Leafhopper (Nephotettix virescens) is the most efficient vector of Rice Tungro Virus (RTV) — the most devastating viral disease of rice in the Indian subcontinent. The pest is found across all rice-growing regions of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Southeast Asia. Tungro is caused by a complex of two viruses — Rice Tungro Bacilliform Virus (RTBV, a badnavirus) and Rice Tungro Spherical Virus (RTSV, a waikavirus) — that occur together and must be co-transmitted by the leafhopper for full symptom development. Once infected, rice plants cannot be cured — the disease causes 50-100% yield loss in susceptible varieties. The leafhopper acquires the virus in 5-30 minutes of feeding on an infected plant and can transmit it for life (persistent transmission). IPM with resistant varieties (carrying Glh gene for leafhopper resistance and tungro resistance genes), synchronous planting to avoid continuous host availability, roguing of infected plants, and 30-day rice-free periods between crops provides effective control. The pest is most severe in areas with continuous rice cultivation (multiple crops per year) and where asynchronous planting creates year-round host availability. Climate change is expanding the range of the leafhopper into previously cooler rice-growing regions, making the pest an increasing concern.
⚠️ Symptoms to watch for
- Yellowing and curling of leaf tips, 'tungro' symptoms (yellow-orange leaves, stunted plants, reduced tillering) when transmitting Rice Tungro Virus (RTV), transmission of Rice Tungro Bacilliform Virus (RTBV) and Rice Tungro Spherical Virus (RTSV), yield loss 50-100% in tungro-affected fields, sooty mold growth on honeydew
🩹 Treatment
- Plant resistant varieties (Pusa 44, IR64 with Glh gene), apply neem oil 5 ml/L, use need-based systemic insecticide when 5 hoppers per hill or at early tungro symptom appearance, rogue infected plants immediately to prevent spread
🌿 Organic treatments
- Spray neem oil 5 ml/L + 5 g/L soap, apply Beauveria bassiana @ 5 g/L, plant resistant varieties (Pusa 44, IR64), rogue and destroy tungro-infected plants, apply NSKE 5%, use yellow sticky traps @ 10/ha for monitoring, maintain field sanitation by removing weed hosts
🧪 Chemical treatments
- Imidacloprid 17.8 SL @ 0.3 ml/L, Thiamethoxam 25 WG @ 0.2 g/L, Acephate 75 SP @ 1 g/L, Dimethoate 30 EC @ 1 ml/L, Pymetrozine 50 WG @ 0.5 g/L — apply at early symptom appearance to prevent virus spread
🛡️ Prevention
- Plant resistant varieties (Pusa 44, IR64, BPT 5204 with Glh gene), avoid overlapping rice crops (creates continuous host for leafhopper and virus), rogue and destroy tungro-infected plants immediately, maintain 30-day rice-free period between crops, control weed hosts (Leersia, Echinochloa), use virus-free nursery stock, plant synchronously with neighbouring fields
🪴 Affected plants
- Rice, Wild Rice, Leersia, Echinochloa, Some Grasses
🦋 Natural predators
- Cyrtorhinus lividipennis (mirid predator), Lycosa spiders, Micraspis ladybirds, Anagrus egg parasitoids, Veliid bugs
🌱 Host plants
- Oryza sativa, Oryza rufipogon, Leersia hexandra, Echinochloa crus-galli, Oryza officinalis
🔄 Lifecycle
- Female lays 30-100 eggs inside leaf sheaths and midribs.
- Eggs hatch in 6-10 days.
- Nymphs pass through 5 instars in 15-20 days.
- Adult lifespan 20-30 days.
- Total life cycle 25-35 days.
- 6-8 overlapping generations per year.
- Adults fly actively between fields, enabling rapid virus spread.
📅 Season
- Year-round in tropical rice, peaks Jul-Oct (kharif) and Feb-Apr (rabi) — synchronous with rice crop stages
🔎 Appearance
- Adult is a small, slender, bright green leafhopper with two black spots on the vertex (top of head) — distinguishing feature from other Nephotettix species.
- Wings are greenish with smoky tips.
- Nymphs are pale yellowish-green with dark markings.
- Jumps readily when disturbed.
- Rests head-up on rice leaves.
💥 Damage level
- Severe
🔁 Reproduction rate
- Rapid
🗺️ Geographic regions
- Indian Subcontinent
- South Asia
- Southeast Asia
- East Asia
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