A migration analysis of the rice planthopper Nilaparvata lugens from the Philippines to East Asia with three-dimensional computer simulations

Migrations of the rice planthopper Nilaparvata lugens (Stil) (Delphacidae) from the Philippines to Taiwan, southern China, and southern Japan were analyzed using three-dimensional migration simulations. The results strongly suggested that the Southeast Asian population of N. lugens mixes with the East Asian population. This highlighted the possibility that plant-hoppers from the Southeast Asian population, which have properties different from those in the East Asian population such as feeding of resistant rice varieties and wing polymorphism, could migrate to Japan via southern China and Taiwan. This study, therefore, emphasizes the special care that should be taken to monitor the properties of immigrants to Japan.