Development of mating disruption methods to suppress populations of insect vectors of X. fastidiosa

The glassy-winged sharpshooter, Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), is a vector of X. fastidiosa, an important bacterial pathogen of several crops in the Americas and Europe. Mating communication of this and many other cicadellid pests involves the exchange of substrate-borne vibrational signals. Exploitation of vibrational signals to interfere with H. vitripennis communication and suppress populations could prove to be a useful tool, but knowledge of the mating behavior was insufficient to initiate development of control methods. In this study, six different H. vitripennis communication signals were identified and described, candidate disruptive signals (natural and synthetic) were designed and tested in the laboratory via playback to individuals and male-female pairs, and efficacy of candidate signals in disrupting H. vitripennis mating were validated under field conditions via playback of signals through wires used in vineyard trellis. Data support application of vibrational mating disruption as a novel method to control H. vitripennis populations.