Compositions and methods for conferring pesticidal activity to bacteria, plants, plant cells, tissues and seeds are provided. In particular, methods for killing or controlling a hemipteran pest population, particularly a planthopper pest population, are provided. The methods include contacting the hemipteran pest with a pesticidally-effective amount of a polypeptide comprising a hemipteran toxin, particularly a planthopper toxin. Further included are methods for increasing yield in plants by expressing the toxin of the invention.
