Researchers identify new species of sugarcane spittlebug in plantations

In 2015, Professor Gervásio Silva Carvalho from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS) received samples of the sugarcane spittlebug (Mahanarva sp.) from plantations in the South and Southeast of the country. The insecticide used to control the pest was not having an effect, and there was a suspicion that it might be a different species from those already known. Through morphological analysis (study of the physical characteristics of the insect), Carvalho sought to identify whether the specimens presented significant variations compared to the more common spittlebugs in sugarcane fields. Unaware of this, shortly thereafter, Professor Diogo Cavalcanti Cabral-de-Mello from the Institute of Biosciences at São Paulo State University (IB-Unesp) in Rio Claro also received, from the same person, several specimens of the insect. Some that Carvalho had already analyzed. An expert in cytogenetics and genomics, Cabral-de-Mello observed differences in the chromosomes ...