Species identification of bacterial communities in the small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus (Hemiptera: Delphacidae)

Abstract Microbes are prevalent and abundant in diverse insects. Many microbes are known to influence host fitness. The small brown planthoppers Laodelphax striatellus Fallen is a notorious plant sap‐feeding pest causing heavy loss to rice yield. Some L. striatellus ‐associated microbes have been surveyed partially. However, their microbial communities at the species level were poorly identified. In this study, we investigated the bacterial community from 7 populations of L. striatellus using the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP)‐PCR of the 16S rRNA gene. The identified bacteria were assigned into 8 species, the top three of which ( Wolbachia sp., Pseudomonas poae and Asaia sp.) accounted for 96% of amplified bacterial sequences. The Wolbachia is of supergroup B and the most abundant in all wild populations. In addition, P. poae was reported in L. striatellus and showed mild pathogenicity. Altogether, our results provide detailed information on the bacterial community in L. striatellus . More research is required to explore the effects of symbiotic bacteria on the fitness of small brown planthoppers.