Abraao Almeida Santos, Nicolas Plante, Edel Pérez-Lopez

Seasonal phenology of Empoasca fabae in Québec

Empoasca fabae is a native leafhopper species in North America that migrates from the southeastern US to northern areas during spring. In this study, we sought to describe the seasonal phenology of E. fabae to estimate the temporal population composition in Québec. For that, we sampled strawberry fields in four regions in 2021/2022 from May to September. We estimated the time for the first adult emergence and the number of generations per year in two scenarios: (i) E. fabae as a local species and (ii) the first capture in the fields. In the local scenario, adult emergence was estimated to occur between July 9th and August 7th, requiring 97-121 days. In the second, these estimations ranged from July 28th to August 18th, with 53 to 79 days. Nonetheless, a second generation was only expected in southeast regions in the first capture scenario. The first field capture occurred between the end of May and the first week of June, peaking before our first-generation estimations, and no adults were caught by the end of September. These findings suggest that E. fabae adults observed from May to June are primarily migratory. Local populations likely emerge in mid-July and onwards, potentially mixing with the remaining migratory individuals.