Mating, oviposition, and development of Sophonia rufofascia (Homoptera : Cicadellidae) in Hawaii

The twospotted leafhopper, Sophonia rufofascia (Kuoh & Kuoh), is an inadver tently introduced insect that has become a pest in Hawaii's diverse ecosyst ems. In this study, laboratory and field experiments were conducted to exam ine mating, oviposition, and egg and nymphal development of S. rufofascia. In the laboratory at 23 +/- 1.5 degrees C, adult S. rufofascia did not mate until 7-9 d after eclosion; the proportion of mating pairs increased from 10 to 100% as age increased from 9 to 15 d. A complete mating process in S. rufofascia consisted of mounting, back-to-back copulation, and postmating rest phases, which lasted for a mean +/- SE period of 0.7 +/- 0.01, 64.7 +/ - 1.20, and 3.5 +/- 0.39) min, respectively. When caged on individual shoot s of host plants (ti, Cordlyline terminalis L. and guava, Psidium guajava L .) growing outdoors, adults did not lay eggs until the second week after em ergence. The oviposition period lasted 8-9 wk, and the weekly oviposition r ate peaked 4-5 wk after emergence (9.8 +/- 2.9 eggs per female on ti; 8.1 /- 0.9 eggs per female on guava). There was no significant difference in th e total number of eggs laid per female on guava versus ti plants. Under out door ambient conditions, eggs of S. rufofascia did not begin to hatch until 4 wk after oviposition, and. the peak rate of hatch occurred 6 wk after ov iposition. Newly hatched nymphs took a mean of 56.9 +/- 2.8 d on guava and 47.2 +/- 1.7 d on ti plants to complete development to the adult stage. The se results indicate that S. rufofascia may take 3-4, mo to complete a singl e generation during fall and winter in Hawaii. Because of the 2-mo oviposit ion period of adults and the large variation in the developmental time of e ggs and nymphs, S. rufofascia is likely to have overlapping generations in Hawaii.