1
“Rice Brown Planthoppers (BPH) are small insects of about 4-6mm in size yet capable
of making the standing rice crop to wilt and die by draining out enormous quantities
of plant sap. All this can happen within a short period of days while the rice farmers
helplessly watch. After devastating rice fields in an area, BPH can move in masses of
lakhs of numbers at thousands of meters height along with monsoon winds to another
area with young rice crop to continue their demonic activity. They can return back to
original area after finishing their job there. As how and why all these happens let us
look into details.”
Chapter 1
Biology, Morphoforms,
Biotypes and Migration
Plant-hoppers as insect pests of rice
Among Sixty-five species of plant hoppers recorded to be associated with Rice
ecosystem, Brown Plant hopper,
Nilaparvata lugens
(Stal) (BPH), White-backed
Planthopper,
Sogatella furcifera
(Horvath) (WBPH) and Small Brown Planthopper
Laodelphax striatellus
Fallen (SBPH) belonging to Order Hemiptera, Suborder
Homoptera, super family Fulgoroidea and family Delphacidae are the most
economically important insect pests causing damage to rice crop. These plant hoppers
are small insects. The adults measure about 4-6 mm in length and 3-4 mm in width.
General biology of all these three species is similar. Immediately after becoming
adults, males and females mate. Mating is facilitated by substrate-transmitted acoustic
signals from both males and females for coming together. These acoustic signals are
reported to be specific to species and even distinguishable among different geologically
isolated populations. The pulse repetition frequency of the male song is known to be
involved in mate recognition and also to vary among geographical populations (Butlin,
1993). Parthenogenesis has not been reported and unfertilized eggs laid by females do
not hatch. After mating ovarian development usually takes 4-6 days which is usually
termed as pre-oviposition period. Microscopic Eggs are inserted by females usually
