S. Mahunka szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 46/2. (Budapest, 1985)

FOLIA ENTOMOLOGICA HUNGARICA ROVARTANI KÖZLEMÉNYEK XLVI. 2 1985 p. 57-62 Biological studies on leafhopper Streptanus species (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) By A. M. HEGAB (Received 29 August, 1984) Abstract: Nymphs of the leafhopper Streptanus aemulans (Kirsch.) and S. marginatus (Kirsch.) have been reared on different healthy and infected host plants. The average of egg and nymphal stages and longevity of adults, in addition to the morphological features of nymphs were studied. Introduction Adults of Streptanus species were collected from apple, apricot, grapevine and strawberry plantations (HEGAB 1981). Because of the fact that some of the taxonomic relatives of the genus Streptanus are well-known transmitting vectors of the plant pathogenic mycoplasmas (RIBAUT, 1952, DLABOLA, 1954, and EMELJANOV, 1964), it was found suitable to study the biology of Streptanus species on different host plants healthy and infected with plant pathogenic disease, in addition to the morphological features of their nymphs. Some biological studies on Philaenus spumarius leafhopper on healthy and infected host plants have been recorded by SEVERIN (1946,1950) and HEGAB (1983). No detailed data on the biology, nor on the description of nymphs of the genus Streptanus were found in the available literature. The author must express his sincere thanks to Dr. G. JENSER, Dr. Gy. SÁRINGER and A. OROSZ for offering him all the help they could and their fruitful discussion throughout the work. Materials and Methods Nymphs of the Streptanus species leafhopper were found on a number of cultivated and wild species plants. Among the cultivated plants were apple, apricot, strawberry and clover (Trifolium pratense). Adult, leafhoppers however, were never numerous even on such hosts as strawberry where nymphs had been abundant. Some collected nymphs of the Streptanus species were described according to speciments, preserved in 70 % ethyl alcohol (HEGAB et al., 1980). For further investigations groups of nymphs hatched from eggs deposited on the petioles of different seedlings of healthy plants and those infected with plant pathogenic mycoplasmas (apple, apricot, strawberry, clover and celery) were reared in petri dishes under laboratory conditions. The average duration of egg and nymphal stages of Streptanus species, along with mean of the adult insect longevity on both healthy and diseased host plants were recorded.