Cicadas from kiwifruit orchards in New Zealand and identification of their final instar exuviae (Cicadidae: Homoptera)

Abstract

Cicadas are a conspicuous element of kiwifruit orchards in New Zealand. They are regarded as pests by kiwifruit orchardists because they damage kiwifruit vines during egg laying, and cicada song and repeated contact with flying cicadas can be disruptive for orchard workers. In a survey of pest monitoring centres in the kiwifruit industry, 13.5% of blocks were considered to have ‘high’ numbers of cicadas. Blocks of kiwifruit in the Auckland, Nelson and Te Puke areas that were surrounded on two or more sides by other blocks of kiwifruit were more likely to have high numbers of cicadas than those surrounded by fewer than two kiwifruit blocks or a gully. The species present in a kiwifruit orchard in the Bay of Plenty were identified and matched with their fifth instar exuviae. Six species were present: Amphipsalta cingulata (Fabricius), A. zelandica (Boisduval), Kikihia ochrina (Walker), K. scutellaris (Walker), Notopsalta sericea (Walker), and Rhodopsalta cruentata (Fabricius). The phenology of these species was determined by trapping emerging adults from kiwifruit, adjacent shelterbelts and areas of existing and revegetated native forest. The two species of Kikihia emerged only from native forest containing mahoe, Melicytus ramiflorus. The other four species emerged from soil beneath kiwifruit and from shelterbelts. The major pest species in kiwifruit was A. zelandica because of its brief emergence period, abundance, widespread distribution in kiwifruit-growing areas and deep oviposition scars.