Submitted to: BARC Poster Day
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: February 26, 1999
Publication Date: N/A
Technical Abstract:
Many plant diseases are spread principally by homopteran insects of the superfamily Membracoidea, which cause hundreds of millions of dollars of damage annually. In order to communicate effectively about these pests, it is essential that everybody use the same names for the same species. However, access to the valid names and to all other information in the literature on Membracoidea is severely impeded by the numerous changes in the classification that have occurred over the last 40 years, since the previous catalogs. The catalogs and databases produced and being developed by the systematic Entomology Laboratory provide an updated, world-wide list of leafhopper and treehopper species covering over 9000 additions and thousands of other changes among some 24,000 species. These projects greatly improve the efficiency of governmental (including APHIS), agricultural, extension, and research workers in the dissemination, storage, and retrieval of information on all species. They also provide a new point of departure for improving the existing classification.
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