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Pacific Pests & Pathogens - Mini Fact Sheet Edition

Sweetpotato flea hopper (026)

Photo 1. Sweetpotato flea hopper, Halticus sp., on dwarf bean causing a specked leaves.

Photo 2. Sweetpotato flea hopper, Halticus sp., on sweetpotato causing a silvering of the leaves.

Photo 3. Sweetpotato flea hopper, Halticus sp., on peanut causing small white spots on the leaves.

Photo 4. Sweetpotato flea hopper, Halticus tibialis, showing the long legs and antennae.

Summary

Narrow distribution. On brassicas, cucurbits, beans, peanuts, sweetpotato. An important pest.
Eggs laid in leaves; nymphs green, shiny black as adults, 2 mm long, with large hind legs, long antennae, piercing mouth parts. Impact unknown.
Sucking causes white spots, sometimes whole leaf turns greyish-white. Black faecal spots on leaves.
Cultural control: plant healthy vines; plant new crops far from old; weed; Chinese cabbage, radish, mustard as trap crops; collect and burn trash after harvest.
Chemical control: PDPs: derris, pyrethrum, or chilli; or synthetic pyrethroids.

Common Name

Sweetpotato flea hopper, flea hopper, garden flea hopper, black garden flea hopper.

Scientific Name

Halticus species (Halticus tibialis, Halticus minutus)

AUTHORS Helen Tsatsia & Grahame Jackson
Information from Capinera JL (1999) Garden fleahopper Halticus bractatus. University of Florida. (http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/leaf/fleahopper.htm).

Produced with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research under project PC/2010/090: Strengthening integrated crop management research in the Pacific Islands in support of sustainable intensification of high-value crop production, implemented by the University of Queensland and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

This mini fact sheet is a part of the app Pacific Pests and Pathogens

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