Biology and Management of the Spotted Lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), in the United States.

Spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (White), invaded the eastern United States in 2014 and has since caused economic and ecological disruption. In particular, spotted lanternfly has shown itself to be a significant pest of vineyards and ornamental plants and is likely to continue to spread to new areas. Factors that have contributed to its success as an invader include its wide host range and high mobility, which allow it to infest a wide range of habitats, including agricultural, urban, suburban, and managed and natural forested areas. Management is dependent on chemical use, although no single currently available control measure alone will be sufficient.

Spatio-Temporal Model for Predicting Spring Hatch of the Spotted Lanternfly (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae).

The effect of temperature on the rate of spotted lanternfly, Lycorma delicatula (White) (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), egg development was investigated for a population in Pennsylvania. Mean developmental duration (days ± SE) for egg hatch was evaluated at five constant temperatures of 19.9, 24.2, 25.1, 26.7, and 30°C using egg masses laid during the fall of 2018 and collected in 2019 from Berks Co., Pennsylvania. Base temperature thresholds for egg development were estimated using intercept and slope parameters by fitting a linear relationship between average temperature and developmental rate for the Pennsylvania study, two Korean studies, and the combined data sets. The base threshold estimates were then used to calculate seasonal accumulated degree-days (ADD) and construct logistic equations for predicting cumulative proportion of hatch in the spring. The fitted logistic prediction equations were then graphed against the egg hatch observations from field sites in Pennsylvania (2017) and Virginia (2019). When base temperature estimates from the three studies and combined studies were used to calculate ADD, the logistic models predicted similar timing for seasonal egg hatch. Because the slopes and intercepts for these four data sets were not statistically different, a base temperature threshold of 10.4°C derived from the combined model is a good estimate for computing ADD to predict spotted lanternfly spring emergence across a spatio-temporal scale. The combined model was linked with open source weather database and mapping programs to provide spatiotemporal prediction maps to aid pest surveillance and management efforts for spotted lanternfly.

Fidelity and Timing of Spotted Lanternfly (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) Attack Patterns on Ornamental Trees in the Suburban Landscape.

Invasive herbivores can have dramatic impacts in new environments by altering landscape composition, displacing natives, and causing plant decline and mortality. One of the most recent invasive insects in the United States, the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula), has the potential to cause substantial economic and environmental impacts in agriculture and forestry. Spotted lanternfly exhibits a broad host range, yet reports of late-season movement from the surrounding landscapes onto select tree species in suburban environments have been reported. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the fidelity of spotted lanternfly attack on specific, individual trees within the same species during this movement period. In 2018 and 2019, we observed that individual red (Acer rubrum L. [Sapindales: Sapindaceae]) and silver maple (Acer saccharinum L. [Sapindales: Sapindaceae]) trees were preferentially attacked over other nearby trees of the same species. Foliar elemental composition was a good predictor of spotted lanternfly attack numbers, indicating that individual variation in nutrients may influence spotted lanternfly attraction to and/or retention on maple trees. Our data also confirm reports of late-season movement from surrounding landscapes throughout autumn. Collectively, our results show that spotted lanternfly exhibits some fidelity to particular trees in the landscape during this movement period. While other potential mechanisms also contribute to host plant selection by spotted lanternfly, our data show that host nutritional profiles influence spotted lanternfly infestation of suburban trees at the landscape scale. Our data establish that late-season infestations of suburban trees by spotted lanternfly occurred and that variation in host quality should be further considered in the management of this invasive insect pest.

Perspective: shedding light on spotted lanternfly impacts in the USA.

Spotted lanternfly (SLF), Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) is an invasive phloem-feeding planthopper currently being quarantined in a 24 000 km2 area in eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware, with a second population under quarantine in a 46 km2 area in Virginia. Because this insect feeds on over 70 species of plants, it has the potential to impact a wide range of sectors, and as a result, there has been great public speculation that the economic impact of SLF could be severe. SLF is a large-bodied voracious feeder that reduces plant resources directly by feeding, and indirectly, from sooty mold that grows on its excrement and blocks photosynthesis. SLF is causing severe damage to vineyards from feeding, and is a significant nuisance pest. It has high potential for spread via human-mediated transport, particularly of egg cases, and may therefore significantly impact commerce in the near future. The ultimate impacts of this insect are not yet known, and will depend upon its longer term impacts on plant and tree health, and the extent to which its range expands. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

New World spittlebugs (Hemiptera: Cercopidae: Ischnorhininae): Dated molecular phylogeny, classification, and evolution of aposematic coloration.

The spittlebug family Cercopidae (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadomorpha: Cercopoidea) is distributed worldwide, with highest species diversity in the tropics. Several included species are economically important pests of major agricultural crops and cultivated pasture grasses. Taxonomically, Cercopidae is divided into two subfamilies: the paraphyletic Old World Cercopinae and the monophyletic New World Ischnorhininae. Results are here presented from an investigation of phylogenetic relationships within Ischnorhininae based on DNA sequences from seven loci (18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, Histone 2A, Histone 3, Wingless, Cytochrome Oxidase I, and Cytochrome Oxidase II) generated from exemplars of 119 spittlebug species. The resulting topology is used to test alternative higher-level classification hypotheses of Ischnorhininae and, with fossil-calibration, dates were estimated for major events in the evolutionary history of Cercopidae, including a much earlier divergence date (around 68-50 Mya) than previously reported in the literature. In addition, for the first time in Cercopidae, ancestral states of some predation avoidances strategies were reconstructed, with results suggesting an origin of aposematic coloration in the Cercopidae ancestor, with subsequent independent losses of aposematic coloration in multiple lineages.

Symbiosis in the Soil: Citizen Microbiology in Middle and High School Classrooms.

Microorganisms are vital to environmental health, yet their association with disease often overshadows these benefits. Building citizen-science activities around the positive role of microorganisms and an understanding of their ubiquity can begin to dispel misconceptions while simultaneously engaging the public in research. Here, we describe a citizen-science microbiology project geared toward implementation in middle and high school classrooms. Students culture environmental microorganisms and document microbial diversity of plant root systems compared with adjacent bulk soil. Results contribute data toward research on microbiome recruitment of weeds and other successful plants while addressing core topics in science education.

Diversity and evolution of the primate skin microbiome.

Skin microbes play a role in human body odour, health and disease. Compared with gut microbes, we know little about the changes in the composition of skin microbes in response to evolutionary changes in hosts, or more recent behavioural and cultural changes in humans. No studies have used sequence-based approaches to consider the skin microbe communities of gorillas and chimpanzees, for example. Comparison of the microbial associates of non-human primates with those of humans offers unique insights into both the ancient and modern features of our skin-associated microbes. Here we describe the microbes found on the skin of humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, rhesus macaques and baboons. We focus on the bacterial and archaeal residents in the axilla using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. We find that human skin microbial communities are unique relative to those of other primates, in terms of both their diversity and their composition. These differences appear to reflect both ancient shifts during millions of years of primate evolution and more recent changes due to modern hygiene.

Correction to 'Diversity and evolution of the primate skin microbiome'.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.2586.].

Two ancient bacterial endosymbionts have coevolved with the planthoppers (Insecta: Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea).

BACKGROUND: Members of the hemipteran suborder Auchenorrhyncha (commonly known as planthoppers, tree- and leafhoppers, spittlebugs, and cicadas) are unusual among insects known to harbor endosymbiotic bacteria in that they are associated with diverse assemblages of bacterial endosymbionts. Early light microscopic surveys of species representing the two major lineages of Auchenorrhyncha (the planthopper superfamily Fulgoroidea; and Cicadomorpha, comprising Membracoidea [tree- and leafhoppers], Cercopoidea [spittlebugs], and Cicadoidea [cicadas]), found that most examined species harbored at least two morphologically distinct bacterial endosymbionts, and some harbored as many as six. Recent investigations using molecular techniques have identified multiple obligate bacterial endosymbionts in Cicadomorpha; however, much less is known about endosymbionts of Fulgoroidea. In this study, we present the initial findings of an ongoing PCR-based survey (sequencing 16S rDNA) of planthopper-associated bacteria to document endosymbionts with a long-term history of codiversification with their fulgoroid hosts. RESULTS: Results of PCR surveys and phylogenetic analyses of 16S rDNA recovered a monophyletic clade of Betaproteobacteria associated with planthoppers; this clade included Vidania fulgoroideae, a recently described bacterium identified in exemplars of the planthopper family Cixiidae. We surveyed 77 planthopper species representing 18 fulgoroid families, and detected Vidania in 40 species (representing 13 families). Further, we detected the Sulcia endosymbiont (identified as an obligate endosymbiont of Auchenorrhyncha in previous studies) in 30 of the 40 species harboring Vidania. Concordance of the Vidania phylogeny with the phylogeny of the planthopper hosts (reconstructed based on sequence data from five genes generated from the same insect specimens from which the bacterial sequences were obtained) was supported by statistical tests of codiversification. Codiversification tests also supported concordance of the Sulcia phylogeny with the phylogeny of the planthopper hosts, as well as concordance of planthopper-associated Vidania and Sulcia phylogenies. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that the Betaproteobacterium Vidania is an ancient endosymbiont that infected the common ancestor of Fulgoroidea at least 130 million years ago. Comparison of our findings with the early light-microscopic surveys conducted by Müller suggests that Vidania is Müller's x-symbiont, which he hypothesized to have codiversified with most lineages of planthoppers and with the Sulcia endosymbiont.

Entomologically famous, evolutionarily unexplored: the first phylogeny of the lanternfly family Fulgoridae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea).

Lanternflies (Insecta: Hemiptera: Fulgoridae) are frequently used as examples of unusual morphological evolution, with some species (such as the peanut-headed bug, Fulgora laternaria Linnaeus) also ubiquitously cited as icons of tropical insect biodiversity. Despite that entomological notoriety, the phylogeny of this charismatic planthopper family has never before been studied. Presented here are the results of a phylogenetic investigation of Fulgoridae based on DNA nucleotide sequence data from five genetic loci (18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, histone 3, wingless, and cytochrome oxidase I). The resulting topologies are used to test the higher classification of Fulgoridae, which is based primarily on characters associated with the curious head morphology of many included species. Analyses include a taxonomic sample of 69 fulgorid species representing 46 (of 110) genera, 10 (of 11) tribes, and all 8 currently recognized subfamilies. Results of this study: (1) demonstrate the need for a revised classification of Fulgoridae, particularly at the higher taxonomic levels; (2) suggest that the genus Zanna is excluded from a monophyletic Fulgoridae; (3) indicate that there have been multiple losses of the extended head process across fulgorid evolution, with what appears to be convergence (in shape and/or loss) in distantly related lineages; and (4) suggest two alternative biogeographic hypotheses to explain the distribution of extant Fulgoridae, with either an Old World origin and a single subsequent colonization of the New World, or a contemporaneous diversification of Old and New World lineages.

Evolution of the planthoppers (Insecta: Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea).

The planthopper superfamily Fulgoroidea (Insecta: Hemiptera) comprises approximately 20 described insect families, depending on which classification is followed. Multiple competing hypotheses of fulgoroid phylogeny have been published, based on either morphological character coding or DNA sequence data; however, those hypotheses disagree in several key aspects regarding the evolution of planthoppers. The current paper seeks to test these hypotheses, including the Asche (Asche, M. 1987. Preliminary thoughts on the phylogeny of Fulgoromorpha (Homoptera Auchenorrhyncha). In: Proceedings of the 6th Auchenorrhyncha Meeting, Turin, Italy, 7-11 September, 1987, pp. 47-53.) hypothesis of a trend in ovipositor structure, which may be correlated with planthopper feeding ecology. Presented here are phylogenetic reconstructions of Fulgoroidea based on analysis of DNA nucleotide sequence data from four loci (18S rDNA, 28S rDNA, Histone 3, and Wingless) sequenced from 83 exemplar taxa representing 18 planthopper families and outgroups. Data sets were analyzed separately and in various combinations under the maximum parsimony criterion, and the total combined dataset was analyzed via both maximum parsimony and partitioned Bayesian criteria; results of the combined analyses were concordant across reconstruction paradigms. Relationships recovered suggest several major planthopper lineages, including: (1) Delphacidae+Cixiidae; (2) Kinnaridae+Meenoplidae; (3) Fulgoridae+Dictyopharidae; (4) Lophopidae+Eurybrachidae (possibly+Flatidae); (5) Ricaniidae+Caliscelidae (possibly+Tropiduchidae). Results also suggest the placement of Achilixiidae outside of Cixiidae and of Tettigometridae as one of the more recently diversified lineages within Fulgoroidea. The resulting phylogeny supports Asche's (1987) hypothesis of a functional trend in ovipositor structure across families.