LONG DISTANCE DISPERSAL BY EUMETOPINA FLAVIPES (HEMIPTERA: DELPHACIDAE), VECTOR OF RAMU STUNT: IS CULTURE CONTRIBUTING?

THE Island cane planthopper, Eumetopina flavipes, is the only known vector for Ramu stunt disease of sugarcane. Ramu stunt disease appears confined to Papua New Guinea, but disease free populations of the vector are known to occur throughout the Torres Strait island archipelago and on the northern peninsula of Cape York, Australia. The ability of E. flavipes to hitch-hike on sugarcane moved by people throughout the region is unknown, but is a process which may explain the initial and subsequent colonisations of the Torres Strait and mainland Australia. We assessed the ability of mobile life stages of E. flavipes to survive over time on cut sugarcane stalks. Results indicated that while nymphs and adults leave the stalk at different rates over time, almost half of the initial population of nymphs and almost one third of the adults survived six days in situ on cut stalks; indicating that E. flavipes is capable of surviving extended periods of time on deteriorating plant host material. These results imply that human mediated movement may play an important role in the dispersal of E. flavipes.