The plane trees leafhopper, Edwardsiana iranicola Zachvatkin: population fluctuations, spatial distribution and its damage in urban green spaces of Ilam province, Iran

Edwardsiana iranicola Zachvatkin, 1945, also known as plane-tree leafhopper, has been observed on various hosts. This is the first report of the existence of the above species and its damage on plane trees in Ilam province. In this study, population fluctuations and spatial distribution of this pest on plane-trees in urban green spaces of Ilam province, were studied during the years 2019 and 2020. One leaf was selected as a sampling unit. Sampling was performed weekly by placing plane-trees leaves in a white plastic tray containing water, and then adult and nymphs were transferred with a soft brush into eppendorf tubes containing 75% alcohol. The damage of this leafhopper was seen as small white dots on the entire surface of the leaf, especially near the main veins. The results of population fluctuations showed that the adult, nymph and egg stages had two peaks in both years of sampling. Also, in both sampling years, the highest density of adults and nymphs were observed in the southern geographical direction. According to Taylor’s power law and Iwao’s methods, the spatial distribution of the pest for adult and nymph stages was random.