CHECKLIST AND TAXONOMIC KEYS TO THE LEAFHOPPER AND PLANTHOPPER OF RICE BASED AGROECOSYSTEM IN BANGLADESH

ABSTRACT: Leafhopper and Planthopper (Family Cicadellidae and Delphacidae) are very important sucking insect pests of Bangladesh. Many authors indiscriminately have listed these species under different names and hosts without conducting scientific studies. The authors aware that there is no national checklist of insect fauna in Bangladesh. This study was conducted in Department of Entomology, Gazipur Agricultural University during November 2023 to October 2024 to list and describe the available leafhoppers and planthoppers species in Bangladesh. The objective of the study was to conduct an extensive survey in the major rice growing regions of Bangladesh for collecting leafhoppers and planthoppers for their identification, description and preparation checklist. In this survey, the author records a total of 10 species of leafhoppers and 5 species of planthoppers in Bangladesh. The leafhopper species are Cofana spectra (Distant 1908), Exitianus indicus (Distant 1908); Hecalus porectus (Walker 1908), Maiestas dorsalis (Motschulsky 1859), Nephotettix cincticeps (Uhler 1896), Nephotettix malayanus Ishihara & Kawase 1968, Nephotettix nigropictus (Stål 1870), Nephotettix virescens (Distant 1908), Orosius orientalis (Matsumura 1914) and Thaia oryzivora Ghauri 1962 as well as planthopper species are Laodelphax striatellus (Fallen 1826), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål 1854), Nisia nervosa (Motschulsky 1863) Sardia rostrate Wilson & Claridge 1991 and Sogatella furcifera (Horváth 1899). Checklist and taxonomic key for the identification of available leafhopper and planthopper species in Bangladesh are provided here. Additionally, first time the authors have described Laodelphax striatellus, (Fallen 1826) from Bangladesh. 

Keywords: Taxonomy, Identification, Leafhoppers, Planthoppers, Cicadellidae, Delphacidae, Sucking pests