Pacific Pests, Pathogens and Weeds - Online edition

Pacific Pests, Pathogens & Weeds

Rice seed bug (299)


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Summary

  • Widespread distribution. Asia, Central America, Oceania. On rice and grasses. An important pest.
  • Egg laid on the midribs of leaves, nymphs like adults, but wingless. Adults 15 mm, brown, white underneath, narrow.
  • Contents of seed sucked out when still soft, becoming shrivelled and small.
  • Natural enemies: wasp parasitoids.
  • Cultural control: weed within and around fields; avoid overlapping crops; in small plots, sweep to catch bugs (morning and evening); burn grass on bunds and around fields after harvest.
  • Chemical control: synthetic pyrethroids, but will kill natural enemies.

Common Name

Rice seed bug, rice bug, rice earhead bug

Scientific Name

Leptocorisa acuta. Note, there is a related species, Leptocorisa oratorius, but research in Indonesia concluded that the loss due to the pest was minimal.


AUTHOR Grahame Jackson 
1International Rice Research Institute, Philippines. Information from Catindig J (undated) Rice bug. Rice Knowledge Bank. IRRI. (http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/training/fact-sheets/pest-management/insects/item/rice-bug); and from Serrano AC, et al. (2014) Featured Creatures: Rice bug. UF/IFAS, University of Florida. (http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/field/Leptocorisa_acuta.htm). Photos 1&2. Rhode BF, Crosby TK (2013) Rice Bug (Leptocorisa acuta). PaDIL - (http://www.padil.gov.au).

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.

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