Indiana DNR inspectors found small green leafhoppers on tropical hibiscus at a garden center in Delaware County and sent specimens to us at Purdue for confirmation. They turned out to be the two-spotted cotton leafhopper, Amrasca biguttula (Ishida), the first record of this species in the state (Fig. 1). It is a slender, pale green insect only 2 to 3 mm long, and from arm’s length it looks like many of the leafhoppers already living in our landscapes. Unfortunately, this is instead a rapidly spreading invasive pest, and several additional suspected detections of this insect have occurred throughout the state at other garden centers over the last two weeks.
Figure 1. Two-spotted cotton leafhopper. Left is a preserved specimen representing the first detection in Indiana (photo by Andrew Johnston). Right is a live individual (photo by Julien Karnoub, iNaturalist, CC-BY-NC).
The species is native to Asia, where it has long been a serious pest of cotton and okra. It reached West Africa in 2021, Puerto Rico in 2023, and south Florida in late 2024. By the summer of 2025 it had been detected across nine states in the Southeast and along the Gulf, fast enough that researchers suspect hurricane winds helped move it inland. Potted hibiscus moving through the nursery trade is the route that brought it to Texas and now to us. It is a pest of regulatory significance, so host plants shipped out of infested areas may face restrictions.
Nymphs and adults of the two-spotted cotton leafhopper feed on the undersides of leaves and inject saliva into plant tissues, causing what is known as “hopperburn”: yellowing along the leaf margins that browns toward the midrib and pulls the leaf edges into a distinctive upward curl. Cotton and okra have reported losses of 50% or more where this species is established. Indiana does not grow the primary hosts at scale, so field crops are unlikely to be an issue in our region. Sunflowers, hibiscus, and greenhouse ornamentals like croton, marigold, rose, and poinsettia are likely at higher risk here. This is a tropical insect with poor cold tolerance and it is unlikely to survive an Indiana winter, so we do not expect establishment in our landscapes. However, this is a nationally and internationally regulated species and could potentially cause issues for nurseries and greenhouses in the future.
The common name indicates how we can most easily recognize this species: two dark spots near the tips of the front wings, and there is typically a matching pair of spots near the front of the head. Newly emerged adults can be nearly unmarked, and the nymphs are pale green, wingless, and spotless. Confirmation rests on the structure of the male reproductive structures using high-powered microscopes. When possible, always collect physical samples of suspected individuals instead of relying on pictures for identification.
Before worrying about every leafhopper you see, it is important to note that several hundred species are known from Indiana. At arm’s length nearly all of them are pale green to brown insects that flick off the leaf before you get a good look. In fact, the day after this insect was confirmed for the state, a white bedsheet with a blacklight was placed in a grassy area on the Purdue West Lafayette campus for an entomology lab and all these dazzling individuals came to the light in the first hour (Fig. 2). If you suspect this leafhopper, please submit a sample through the Purdue Plant & Pest Diagnostic Lab where any confirmed detections will be reported back to the Indiana DNR.
Figure 2. Diversity of planthopper forms observed at a light sheet for one hour after dark on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus.
Further Reading
Two-Spot Cotton Leafhopper on Hibiscus 2025 GrowerTalks
Invasive Insect: Two Spotted Cotton Leafhopper 2025 Penn State Factsheet
