Subfamily Cicadellinae
Tribe Proconiini

The Glassy-winged Sharpshooter
Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar)
[formerly H. coagulata (Say), see Takiya, et al. (2006)]

This species is not recorded in Australia but is included here to assist in the early detection of any future incursion.

The glassy-winged sharpshooter (GWSS) is the most effective and damaging vector of Pierce's Disease of grapevines in California. Pierce's Disease is caused by a bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa. GWSS was detected in Tahiti for the first time in 2001 and is therefore clearly capable of being transported to new areas in fresh agricultural produce. It is native to NE Mexico and the south eastern states of the USA but has spread in recent years to California, possibly as a result of the reduction in use of broad-spectrum insecticides in Californian vineyards and to French Polynesia. A further concern about GWSS has been demonstrated by Suttle and Hoddle (2006) who provide evidence that spiders feeding on GWSS in the islands of French Polynesia are being killed by an unknown toxin contained within the insects. GWSS therefore may pose a threat to island ecosystems by altering the population dynamics of this important group of predators.

In general appearance, GWSS is superficially similar to a number of Australian species, particularly in the ledrine tribe Thymbrini, but can be easily differentiated from them by the grossly swollen frons. The tegmina are also transparent between the veins and are narrow, not covering the whole dorsal and lateral surfaces of the abdomen (a feature of the Proconiini) while in Thymbrini and other Ledrinae the tegmina are opaque or semi-opaque and completely cover the abdomen.

Other Australian Cicadellinae are quite different in colour and shape from GWSS, in particular lacking the broadly triangular flat vertex. In Australian Cicadellinae, which all belong in the tribe Cicadellini, the vertex is much shorter and rounded anteriorly, highlighting the swollen frons.

Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar)
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