Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Agronomic: corn

• Ecosystem: Ecosystem

Target Pests

Practices

• Pest Management: decision support system, disease vectors, forecasting, monitoring/scouting, traps

New records of corn leafhopper, Dalbulus maidis, in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma have alarmed field entomologists and plant pathologists in 2024. Because this invasive species (mostly present in Central and South America) is an efficient vector of four pathogens belonging to the corn stunt diseases complex: corn stunt spiroplasma (CSS), maize bushy stunt phytoplasma (MBSP), maize rayado fino virus (MRFV), and maize striate mosaic virus (MSMV). The sudden presence of this insect is a threat to corn production in the USA and has raised many questions about its dispersal in the upper Midwest in 2025. Through the American Midwest Suction Trap Network (STN) (https://suctiontrapnetwork.org) we found few corn leafhoppers specimens (6) in late September and October of 2023 in suction traps located in Illinois and Missouri, and in 2024 they were more abundant and found in all the Midwestern states. The STN is an extraordinary tool to be used to monitor insects as well as the diseases they vector. It is a long-standing monitoring system that has produced valuable information about the population dynamics, ecology, and natural history of multiple taxa such as aphids, soybean thrips, potato leafhoppers, and mosquitoes. In addition, we consider it necessary to complement suction trap data with field data gathered from standard yellow sticky traps placed in nearby corn fields in Champaign (Illinois) and Columbia (Missouri). This data will allow comparison of sampling efficiency for integrated pest management assessment and for machine learning models to improve species distribution modeling and outbreak predictions. Furthermore, corn leafhoppers caught in suction traps will be screened to detect corn stunt spiroplasma and will be sent to our colleague entomologists in Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Service to perform corn leafhoppers’ genetic characterization and their susceptibility to insecticides used to manage other hemipteran pests in US corn production systems. This will help explain the atypical cases of corn stunt disease in corn that occurred in 2024 in the US to tailor strategies to manage the vector-disease complex. We believe that our objectives can be accomplished because we count on the outstanding collaboration of researchers and extensionist personnel of universities and private farmers.

1. Tracking the migratory patterns, distribution, and abundance of corn leafhopper. It is necessary to track the dispersal activity of this new invasive species in the USA Midwest. Through STN, we believe that this is possible since the suction traps were strategically placed close to soybean/corn fields across the Midwest. Additionally, yellow sticky cards will be placed in corn fields near the suction trap in Columbia, Missouri and Champaign, Illinois. The inclusion of yellow sticky cards in corn fields from less than a mile and up to 50 miles from the suction trap will help us to understand how the number of leafhoppers collected in the suction trap correlates with the presence of insects in the field. These traps will be placed in the same week the suction trap starts to operate. Yellow sticky cards will be replaced weekly, and insects will be identified and counted. This will help us to correlate trap data to inform stakeholders when they should start monitoring their fields for the presence of this pest.

2. Make corn leafhopper data available to growers, extension agents, and researchers:

2.1. Online advanced alerts: through time the suction trap data has been available to multiple online services for the scientific community and stakeholders. We will deposit the corn leafhopper suction trap data in the National Integrated Pest Management Database (https://ipmdata.ipmcenters.org/) if our project gets funded.

2.2. The STN website (https://suctiontrapnetwork.org/data/) was created in 2018 thanks to the collaboration and input of Joseph LaForest. He manages the database (https://agpestmonitor.org/report/sitemonitoring/pestreporting/) developed by University of Georgia-Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health (https://www.bugwood.org/) and will continue supporting the STN database system. This website gets updated weekly during suction trap season from May through October (Fig. 3).

2.3. Along with online data management, we want to deposit corn leafhopper specimens to the INHS Insect Collection for insect archival records. Project Director Lagos-Kutz has been trained by INHS Insect Collection’s personnel to use Taxoworks, which is an integrated web-based workbench for taxonomists and biodiversity researchers. Lagos-Kutz has been nominated as associate curator of INHS Insect Collection because of her contributions (https://insect.inhs.illinois.edu/people/).

3. Along with the storage of corn leafhopper specimens caught in suction traps, we will screen corn leafhoppers caught in the suction traps for Spiroplasma kunkelii, one of the causative agents of corn stunt disease. We will use the highly sensitive and specific molecular protocols (DNA and PCR) developed by Barros et al (2001) for the detection and identification of S. kunkelii. We will primarily screen the first specimens caught in each trap during the suction trap season. This objective is also critical for starting field scouts to make decisions for pest control and disease management. Lagos-Kutz already started preliminary screening from corn leafhoppers caught in the suction traps in 2024 at Dr. Mark Davis’ molecular lab, INHS-Prairie Research Institute and obtained positive results from this screening. This data will be used to write a manuscript as well as the data will be shared online through STN website.