A survey of jumping plant-lice (Hemiptera: Psylloidea) overwintering on conifers in Hungary

Abstract

Some jumping plant-lice species are economically important due to their capacity as vectors of phytopathogenic bacteria, for example phytoplasmas. Previous studies have identified 80 jumping plant-louse species from Hungary; however, little is known about their occurrence during winter. To extend our knowledge of overwintering sites of jumping plant-lice in Hungary, we sampled them from conifers in various regions of the country. One of our main objectives was to find Cacopsylla pruni (Scopoli, 1763), the vector of ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma prunorum' during winter.The period of this study extended from 2014 to 2020 in the winter months. Insects were collected at 18 sampling sites from Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county to Somogy county, located at Alsótekeres, Balatonvilágos, Boldogkőváralja, Budakeszi, Fenyőfő, Gyöngyöspata, Kecskemét, Martonvásár, Mátra Mountain, Nagykovácsi, Nagyszakácsi, Páty, Piliscsaba, Somogytúr, Soroksár, Sóskút and Verpelét.A total of 1,600 jumping plant-louse specimens belonging to 20 species and three families (Psyllidae, Aphalaridae and Triozidae) were collected and identified during the study. In the case of plum psyllid (C. pruni) four shelter sites were identified as new records for Hungary.The most common species were Trioza remota, Cacopsylla melanoneura, Trioza urticae, Bactericera albiventris, C. pruni and Cacopsylla crataegi.