Effect of European wheat striate mosaic, acquired by feeding on diseased plants, on the biology of its planthopper vector Javesella pellucida

SUMMARY Ten lines of Javesella pellucida transmitted European wheat striate mosaic (EWSM) from diseased plants with an average efficiency of 31% compared to 10% efficiency for eleven lines of J. dubia. The effect on J. pellucida of EWSM, acquired through feeding on diseased plants by first and second instar nymphs, was studied in two outbred lines of hoppers. Three categories were compared: hoppers that fed on diseased plants for 7 days and became infective, hoppers that fed similarly but did not become infective, and control hoppers never fed on diseased plants and which were non‐infective. No statistically significant variation was found between these three categories in survival of nymphs to adulthood, adult longevity of either sex, total, and rate of, egg production per female, or survival of eggs to eclosion. Transovarial transmission of EWSM occurred in 6 to 43% of the progenies of infective females of J. pellucida.