21 22 ORCID IDs: 23 J. Hereward: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6468-6342 24 A. Matias: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1329-4285 25 G. Walter: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1025-7101 26 Y Wang: https://orcid.org/Abstract 33 34 Brown planthoppers (Nilaparvata lugens) are the most serious insect pests of rice, one 35 of the world's most important staple crops. They reproduce year-round in the tropical parts of 36 their distribution, but cannot overwinter in the temperate areas where they occur, and invade 37 seasonally from elsewhere. Decades of research has not revealed their source unambiguously.38We therefore sequenced the genomes of brown planthopper populations from across 39 temperate and tropical parts of their distribution and show that the Indochinese peninsula is 40 the major source of migration into temperate China. The Philippines, once considered a key 41 source, is not significant, with little evidence for their migration into China. We find support 42 for immigration from the west of China contributing to these regional dynamics. The lack of 43 connectivity between the Philippines and mainland China explains the different evolution of 44 Imidacloprid resistance in these populations. This study highlights the promise of whole 45 genome sequence data to understand migration when gene flow is high -a situation that has 46 been difficult to resolve using traditional genetic markers. 47