Empoasca fabae

Definition

A small, green leafhopper (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) native to North America and a major agricultural pest, commonly called the potato leafhopper. Adults and nymphs feed on phloem sap, injecting saliva that causes hopperburn—leaf curling, stunting, and yield reduction in host plants. The species is highly polyphagous, damaging potatoes, alfalfa, clover, snap beans, apples, and numerous other crops; it lacks an overwintering diapause in northern regions and reinvades annually via wind-assisted long-distance migration from southern source populations.

Etymology

Example

In the upper Midwest, Empoasca fabae typically arrives in June on southerly winds, and economic thresholds for insecticide application in alfalfa are based on sweep-net counts of adults per 20 sweeps.

Synonyms

• Potato leafhopper

Related Terms

• Cicadellidae
• hopperburn
• phloem feeding
• Hemiptera
• agricultural entomology
• vector (disease)
• Empoasca

Usage Notes

Often abbreviated as E. fabae in applied entomology literature. Not to be confused with Empoasca decipiens or other Empoasca species that cause similar damage; precise identification requires examination of male genitalia. The common name "potato leafhopper" is regionally dominant, though the species damages many non-potato crops.