Plant Hopper / Leaf Hopper

A planthopper is any insect in the infraorder Fulgoromorpha within the Hemiptera. The name comes from their remarkable resemblance to leaves and other plants of their environment and from the fact that they often "hop" for quick transportation in a similar way to that ofgrasshoppers. However, these planthoppers generally walk very slowly so as not to attract attention. Distributed worldwide, all members of this group are plant-feeders, though surprisingly few are considered pests. The infraorder contains only a single superfamily, Fulgoroidea. Fulgoroids are most reliably distinguished from the other members of the classical "Homoptera" by two features; the bifurcate ("Y"-shaped) anal vein in the forewing, and the thickened, three-segmented antennae, with a generally round or egg-shaped second segment (pedicel) that bears a fine filamentous arista.

Nymphs of many Fulgoroids produce wax from special glands on the abdominal terga and other parts of the body. These are hydrophobic and help conceal the insects. Adult females of many families also produce wax which may be used to protect eggs.^[1]

Planthoppers are often vectors for plant diseases, especially phytoplasmas which live in the phloem of plants and can be transmitted by planthoppers when feeding.

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Wattle Hopper nymph Olonia sp Family Eurybrachyidae

Leafhopper is a common name applied to any species from the family Cicadellidae. Leafhoppers, colloquially known as hoppers, are minute plant-feeding insects in the superfamily Membracoidea in the order Homoptera. They belong to a lineage traditionally treated as infraorderCicadomorpha in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, but as the latter taxon is probably not monophyletic many modern authors prefer to abolish the Auchenorrhyncha and elevate the cicadomorphs to a suborder Clypeorrhyncha.

Leafhoppers are found all over the world and constitute the second-largest hemipteran family. They have at least 20,000 described species. Thetribe Proconiini of the subfamily Cicadellinae is commonly known as sharpshooters.

The Cicadellidae combine the following features:

• thickened part of the antennae very short and ending with a bristle (arista)
• two ocelli (simple eyes) present on the top or front of the head
• tarsi made of three segments
• front femora with at most weak spines
• hind tibiae with one or more distinct keels, with a row of movable spines on each, sometimes on enlarged bases
• base of middle legs close together where they originate under the thorax
• front wings not particularly thickened.

An additional and unique character of leafhoppers is the production of brochosomes which are thought to protect the animals and particularly their egg clutches from predation and pathogens.

Like other Exopterygota, the leafhoppers undergo direct development from nymph to adult without apupal stage. While many leafhoppers are drab little insects as is typical for the Membracoidea, the adults and nymphs of some species are quite colorful. Some – in particular Stegelytrinae – have largely translucent wings and resemble flies at a casual glance.

Leafhoppers have piercing-sucking mouthparts, enabling them to feed on plant sap. A leafhoppers' diet commonly consists of sap from a wide and diverse range of plants, but some are more host-specific. Leafhoppers mainly are herbivores but some are known to eat smaller insects such asaphids on occasion. A few species are known to be mud-puddling, but as it seems females rarely engage in such behavior. Leafhoppers can transmit plant pathogens such as viruses,phytoplasmas^[1] and bacteria. Cicadellidae species that are significant agricultural pests include the beet leafhopper (Circulifer tenellus), potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae), two-spotted leafhopper (Sophonia rufofascia), glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca vitripennis), thecommon brown leafhopper (Orosius orientalis) and white apple leafhopper (Typhlocyba pomaria).

In some cases the plant pathogens distributed by leafhoppers are also pathogens of the insect themselves and can replicate within the leafhoppers' salivary glands. Leafhoppers are also susceptible to various insect pathogens, including Dicistroviridae viruses, bacteria and fungi; numerous parasitoids attack the eggs and the adults provide food for small insectivores.

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SAWAH PADI / PADDY FIELD

A paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops. Rice can also be grown in dry-fields, but from the twentieth century paddy field agriculture became the dominant form of growing rice. Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice-growing countries of east, south and southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Bangladesh, China, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. They are also found in other rice-growing regions such as Piedmont (Italy), the Camargue (France) the Artibonite Valley (Haiti), the Sacramento Valley of California, and the remains of rice paddies still define much of landscape of the Carolina Lowcountry (US).

Paddy fields can be built adjacent to otherwise natural areas such as rivers or marshes. They can be constructed, often on steep hillsides with much labor and materials. The fields require large quantities of water for irrigation. Flooding provides water essential to the growth of the crop. Water also provides a favorable environment for the rice strains being grown as well as discouraging the growth of many species of weeds. Thewater buffalo is one of the most important working animals adapted for life in wetlands so they are extensively used in paddy fields.

World methane production due to paddy fields has been estimated to be in the range of 50 to 100 million tonnes per annum.^[1] Recent studies have shown that methane can be significantly reduced while also boosting crop yield by draining the paddies allowing the soil to aerate, which interrupts methane production.^[2]

The word "paddy" is derived from the Malay word padi, rice plant.

Archaeologists generally accept that wet-field cultivation originated in China. At Caoxieshan, a site of the Neolithic Majiabang culture, archaeologists excavated paddy fields ^[4]. Some archaeologists claim that Caoxieshan may date to 4000-3000 B.C.^[5][6], but as of now the oldest excavated rice paddy field dated by absolute scientific dating techniques are from Korea^[7]. There is archaeological evidence that unhusked rice was stored for the military and for burial with the deceased from the Neolithic period to the Han Dynasty in China.^[8]

Korean paddy-field farming is ancient. A pit-house at the Daecheon-ni site yielded carbonized rice grains and radiocarbon dates indicating that rice cultivation in dry-fields may have begun as early as the Middle Jeulmun Pottery Period (c. 3500-2000 B.C.) in the Korean Peninsula^[9]. Ancient paddy fields have been carefully unearthed in Korea by institutes such as Kyungnam University Museum (KUM) of Masan. They excavated paddy field features at the Geumcheon-ni Site near Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province. The paddy field feature was found next to a pit-house that is dated to the latter part of the Early Mumun Pottery Period (c. 1100-850 B.C.). KUM has conducted excavations that have revealed similarly dated paddy field features at Yaeum-dong and Okhyeon in modern-day Ulsan^[10].

The earliest Mumun features were usually located in low-lying narrow gullies that were naturally swampy and fed by the local stream system. Some Mumun paddy fields in flat areas were made of a series of squares and rectangles separated by bunds approximately 10 cm in height, while terraced paddy fields consisted of long irregular shapes that followed natural contours of the land at various levels^[11][12].

Mumun Period rice farmers used all of the elements that are present in today's paddy fields such terracing, bunds, canals, and small reservoirs. We can grasp some paddy-field farming techniques of the Middle Mumun (c. 850-550 B.C.) from the well-preserved wooden tools excavated from archaeological rice fields at the Majeon-ni Site. However, iron tools for paddy-field farming were not introduced until sometime after 200 B.C. The spatial scale of paddy-fields increased with the regular use of iron tools in the Three Kingdoms of Korea Period (c. A.D. 300/400-668).

The first paddy fields in Japan date to the Early Yayoi period^[13]. The Early Yayoi has been re-dated and thus it appears that wet-field agriculture developed at approximately the same time as in the Korean peninsula.

In the Philippines, the use of rice paddies can be traced to prehistoric times, as evidenced in the names of towns such as Pila, Laguna, whose name can be traced to the straight mounds of dirt that form the boundaries of the rice paddy, or "Pilapil." ^[14]

Wet rice cultivation in Vietnam dates back to the Neolithic Hoa Binh culture and Bac Son culture

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