New Distribution Records of the Glassy-winged Sharpshooter, Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar), in Oklahoma

• Author(s): Overall, LM; Rebek, EJ; Wayadande, AC;
• Abstract: Glassy-winged sharpshooter, Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar) (formerly H. coagulata (Say)) (Takiya et al. 2006), is the most important vector of plant diseases caused by the bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa Wells et al. This large sharpshooter is native to the southeastern United States and northern Mexico and has spread to southern California (Sorensen and Gill 1996), French Polynesia (Tahiti) (Hoddle 2004), and Hawaii (Almeida 2007). In California, the glassy-winged sharpshooter transmits Pierce's disease of grapes, Vitis vinifera L., and leaf scorch in almonds, Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A.Webb, and oleander, Nerium oleander L. The latter host is a common landscape shrub in California with estimated potential losses exceeding $50 million (Bethke et al. 2001). Pierce's disease impedes the grape-growing industries in California, with losses exceeding $10 million in the Temecula Valley (Myers et al. 2007). In addition to Pierce's disease, glassy-winged sharpshooter transmits phony peach disease in Florida and South Carolina (Turner and Pollard 1959, Kalkandelen and Fox 1968), a costly plant malady in those states. Pierce's disease of grapes has been detected recently in Oklahoma (Smith et al. 2009).
• Publication Date: Jun 2010
• Journal: Southwestern Entomologist