Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jape Leafhopper (Cicadellidae: Hemiptera) complex of Assam and their molecular variability Rupashree Das a,⁎ , Anjumoni Devee a , Akhil Ranjan Baruah b a Assam Agricultural University, Department of Entomology, Jorhat 13, Assam, India b Assam Agricultural University, Department of Agril. Biotechnology, Jorhat 13, Assam, India ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Leafhopper species Taxonomic characters Molecular characterization SSR markers Dendrogram Assam India Rice and vegetable ecosystem ABSTRACT In this study, thirteen species of leafhopper from eight genus belonging to Nephotettix, Maeistas, Cofana, Exitianus, Hecalus, Amrasca, Cicadulina, Empoasca were described and prepared simplified key for correct field identification and easy monitoring. Among these thirteen species, Exitianus nanus (Distant, 1908) Exitianus indicus (Distant, 1908) and Hecalus porrectus (Walker, 1858) are being reported for the first time from Assam and described and keyed based on morphological and genital characters. There is no systematic information on genetic diversity of available leafhopper species of Assam and in this paper tried to give a phylogenic species status of nine species of leafhopper based on data of 11 SSR markers. Introduction Leafhoppers, small wedge shaped cicadellids of various form, colour, size having two or more rows of spines on hind tibia and pronotum not exceeding back over the abdomen are pest and vectors of economic important crops (Viraktamath, 2007). Cicadellids of Assam were known from a few studies, which reported 6 species from rice and 2 from okra and potato (Nath and Bhagabati, 2002). Pruthi the first leaf hopper worker described 76 species (Pruthi, 1930, 1934a, 1934b, 1936, 1940) and more than 1350 species were reported from different parts of Indian subcontinent by Viraktamath (2005a, 2005b). But, in Assam though it is under biodiversity hot spots taxonomic works were not very plenty due to the lack of specialists. In this study, 13 species of leafhopper from 8 genus belonging to Nephotettix, Maeistas, Cofana, Exitianus, Hecalus, Amrasca, Cicadulina, Empoasca were described and prepared simplified key for correct field identification and easy monitoring. Among the 13 species Exitianus nanus (Distant), Exitianus indicus (Distant) and Hecalus porrectus (Walker) were reported for the first time from Assam. There is no systematic information on genetic diversity of leafhopper species of Assam and their phylogenic relation- ship and in this paper tried to give a phylogenic species status of 9 species of leafhopper based on molecular phylogeny. Materials and methods Morphological examination The laboratory study was carried out at the Department of Entomology, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, India during 2012–2014. Insects were collected from various rice, okra French bean and potato fields by sweep nets and aspirators. The specimens were sorted out by examining their morphological characters (Viraktamath, 2005a, b) under the Leica DM 750 (Carl Zeiss-2000-c) binocular stereoscopic microscope (6.5 × to 50 ×) and then half of total collec- tion of each specimens stored dry and rest half preserved in 70% ethanol for further study. Each specimen was soaked in 10% KOH and abdomen was dissected to study the genitalia (Knight, 1965). Then observation, measurement and drawing were made with the help of image analyser of Leica M 165C microscope and species identified by consulting published taxonomic keys and related literatures (Distant, 1918; Young, 1979; Viraktamath and Wesley, 1991; Heinrichs, 1994; Viraktamath, 2005a, 2005b; Gnaneswaran et al., 2010; Chowdhury et al., 2011; Khatri et al., 2011; Khatri et al., 2011; Khatri and Rustamani, 2011; Duan and Zhang, 2013; Duan and Zhang, 2014). Finally, the specimens were sent to National Bureau of Agricultural Important Insects (NBAII), Bangalore, for confirmation. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aspen.2017.04.001 Received 16 May 2016 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: rupashreedas2q@gmail.com (R. Das). Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology 20 (2017) 776–786 Available online 07 April 2017 1226-8615/ © 2017 Korean Society of Applied Entomology, Taiwan Entomological Society and Malaysian Plant Protection Society. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. MARK