Overwintering of the Threecornered Alfalfa Hopper in Louisiana1

The three cornered alfalfa hopper, Spissistilus festinus (Say) (Homoptera:Membracidae), overwinters as an adult in a state of reproductive diapause. In Louisiana, pine is the primary maintenance host used by overwintering populations. Laboratory experiments with overwintering adults showed survivorship on pine to be greater than that on water alone, but significantly lower than on leguminous breeding hosts. Histological studies suggest that probing hoppers locate phloem, the preferred target tissue, less efficiently in pine needles than in soybean petioles.