An introduced African grass, weeping lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula (Schrad.) Nees), serves as a host plant for a number of rare species of planthoppers. Nymphs and adults of two species of Cyrpoptus, C. belfragei Stål and C. reineckei Van Duzee, Amycle vernalis Manee (Fulgoridae), and Rhynchomitra microrhina (Walker) (Dictyopharidae) have been collected from the crowns of weeping lovegrass in the southeastern US. This grass also serves as a host for six species of Delphacidae and two species of Issidae. In this paper we provide a list of planthopper species associated with weeping lovegrass, summarize the life histories of the three fulgorids and dictyopharid, and discuss planthopper host plant affinities and host plant shifts.
Species 1: Homoptera Fulgoridae Cyrpoptus belfragei
Species 2: Homoptera Dictyopharidae Rhynchomitra microrhina
Species 3: Homoptera Fulgoridae Amycle vernalis
Keywords: host plant shifts
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