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Sogatella furcifera (Horváth, 1899) · formerly or also: Delphax furcifera
A small planthopper with a white stripe down its back that sucks sap from rice plants. It migrates long distances each year with the brown planthopper and attacks rice earlier in the season. Heavy populations stunt plants and can cause hopperburn, and since the early 2000s it has spread southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus across East and Southeast Asia, which has made it a more important pest.
The scientific name of whitebacked planthopper is Sogatella furcifera (Horváth, 1899), in the order Hemiptera, family Delphacidae.
Older or alternative scientific names: Delphax furcifera.
Found throughout rice-growing Asia from Pakistan to Japan, and in Oceania. In temperate East Asia it cannot overwinter and arrives each year by long-distance migration on monsoon winds, usually earlier than the brown planthopper.
| Region | Status |
|---|---|
| South Asia | Widespread |
| Southeast Asia | Widespread; virus vector in Vietnam and neighbouring countries |
| East Asia | Annual migrant; major pest in China, Korea and Japan |
| Oceania | Present |
Adults are about 3-4 mm long, with a distinctive white or pale yellow stripe along the back between the wings; long-winged and short-winged forms occur (short-winged mainly in females). Nymphs are whitish to grey with dark markings. Eggs are laid in rows inside leaf sheaths.
| Crop stage | What you see |
|---|---|
| Tillering | Planthoppers on the middle and upper parts of plants; yellowing and reduced vigour; honeydew and sooty mould. |
| Booting to heading | Heavy populations cause browning and drying of plants (hopperburn), although less often than brown planthopper. |
| Any stage (virus) | Plants infected with southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus are severely stunted, dark green, with white waxy galls along the stems and few or no panicles. |
Migrant adults colonise young rice and their offspring build up during tillering. Females lay eggs in leaf sheaths; nymphs pass through five instars. Populations usually peak earlier than those of the brown planthopper and decline as the crop matures.
| Stage | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Egg | About 6-9 days | Inside leaf sheaths. |
| Nymph (5 instars) | About 12-15 days | Feeds on stems and leaves. |
| Adult | About 2-3 weeks | Long-winged migrants disperse widely. |
Development is fastest at about 25-30 °C; a generation takes about a month.
Several overlapping generations in the tropics; 2-4 per season in temperate East Asia.
Early-season migrations, dense young crops with high nitrogen, warm humid weather, and insecticide use that kills natural enemies. Large numbers of migrants arriving soon after transplanting, when natural enemies have not yet colonised the field, give the pest a head start.
There is no single international numeric threshold; local thresholds count planthoppers per hill (often combined with brown planthopper counts) and are adjusted for spider and predator numbers. Where the planthopper carries southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus, action thresholds in the nursery and early crop are much lower.
Thresholds are local. They depend on crop price, control cost, variety and natural-enemy activity, so use the figure your local extension service publishes where one exists.
Direct feeding reduces tillering and grain filling and occasionally causes hopperburn; virus transmission has caused serious losses in southern China and northern Vietnam since the late 2000s. Infested plants may also yield lighter, poorly filled grain even without visible hopperburn, and honeydew encourages sooty mould on leaves.
Control works best as a sequence: prevent, monitor, then act only when a threshold or a risk forecast says so, using the least disruptive option that works.
Spray only when counts exceed local thresholds, aiming at the middle and upper plant. Some groups cause planthopper resurgence and should be avoided. What is registered differs by country and changes over time; follow the label and your local plant-protection authority.
| Scheme | Group | Mode of action | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| IRAC | 9B | Chordotonal organ TRPV channel modulators | Selective feeding inhibitor. |
| IRAC | 16 | Inhibitors of chitin biosynthesis, type 1 | Acts on nymphs. |
| IRAC | 4C | Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor competitive modulators (sulfoximines) | Check local resistance. |
Rice is the main host; it also feeds and sometimes breeds on maize, wheat, barley, millets and grasses such as Echinochloa.
How to grow the crop well is the first line of defence. Laisha's free grow guides cover each crop from sowing to harvest:
Written by Laisha from the sources above, in its own words. This page is general reference, not a prescription: confirm identification locally and follow the label and your plant-protection authority.