İbrahim Ersin Bozdoğan, Hakan Çarpar, Nihat Demirel, ÖMER FARUK COŞKUN
The two-spot cotton leafhopper Amrasca biguttula (Ishida, 1913) is a polyphagous cicadellid that has recently expanded from its native Asian range into Africa, the Caribbean and the southeastern United States. During faunistic surveys in 2024–2025, leafhoppers resembling A. biguttula were found on eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in Hatay Province, eastern Mediterranean region of Türkiye. Adults and males were examined in detail, and both external characters and male genitalia matched the diagnostic features described for A. biguttula, including the two distinct preapical dark spots on the forewings and the characteristic shape of the aedeagus and subgenital plates. COI sequences generated from Hatay specimens were 99.4–100% identical to published sequences from India and Southeast Asia, and phylogenetic analyses grouped the Turkish haplotype within a well-supported A. biguttula clade. In infested cotton fields, both nymphs and adults caused typical hopperburn symptoms, such as marginal chlorosis, necrotic patches and leaf curling, indicating that the species is established and actively damaging local crops. Because cotton is a key industrial crop in southern Türkiye, early detection, routine monitoring and coordinated management efforts will be essential to limit the impact of this invasive leafhopper in the region. These findings provide the first morphologically and COI-confirmed record of A. biguttula from Türkiye and extend the westernmost known limit of the species into the eastern Mediterranean.