Scientific name

Recilia dorsalis (Motschulsky)

What it does

Feeding damage of zigzag leaf hopper causes the leaf tips to dry up, and whole leaves to become orange and curled.

Why and where it occurs

Grassy weeds and volunteer rice in fallow fields attract the zigzag leafhopper and the viruses it transmit to exist between rice crops.

The rice zigzag leafhopper is found in all rice environments. It is abundant during the early rainy season in the early growth stages of the rice plant. It rarely occurs in large numbers. The adults usually stay in the upper parts of the rice plants.

A high population density of the zigzag leafhopper occurs in seedbeds and weeds between planting seasons.

 

How to identify

Check the plants for the following symptom:

• Drying of leaf tips
• Whole leaves become orange
• Leaf margins become orange and curl

Check for the presence of insect:

• white eggs laid singly in the sheaths
• yellowish brown nymphs and adults sucking sap from the leaves in the upper parts and tillers near the base of the plant

How to manage

• Encourage biological control agents: mymarid wasp, mirid bug, dryinid wasp and pipunculid flies, spiders.

Learn more

View full fact sheet:
Zigzag leafhopper on IRRI Rice Knowledge Bank