The Glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS), Homalodisca coagulata (Say) (Homoptera: Cicadellidae), has been identified as the main current vector for the xylem restricted bacterium Xyllela fastidiosa, the causal agent of Pierce’s disease. This disease is threatening the California wine and grape industry, and has already inflicted heavy damage to certain areas in the state. In order to provide elements to control this insect vector, information is needed about the population dynamics of the GWSS. Following the field population dynamics of a species, requires a reliable method for accurately estimating real field densities. Current methods used to estimate GWSS densities in the field, rely mainly on yellow sticky traps or net beatings and insect count. We developed a method to take absolute samplings of the GWSS by using parachutes to cover citrus trees and then fog the tree in order to recover all the stadia except eggs. We correlate this method with standard yellow sticky traps, net beating for adult GWSS and present data on real field densities for this insect, in regions of the state heavily infested with GWSS.
Species 1: Homoptera Cicadellidae Homalodisca coagulata (Glassy-winged sharpshooter)
Species 2: Xylella fastidiosa (Pierce's disease)
Keywords: Absolute sampling, population dynamics
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA