Pest distribution in Canada
The PRA specialists of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have reviewed the pest distribution data for Canada appearing in Distribution Maps of Quarantine Pests for Europe, (DMQPE) and have provided the following additions and corrections. The other information in DMQPE is not considered to require modification (and can thus be considered as effectively validated for 1999).
Bacteria
Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens pv. flaccumfaciens (A2 list) should be classed as "Absent: pest no longer present". There is only one 1954 record in Ontario, and general surveillance shows that the pest has not occurred since.
Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii (A2 list) only occurs in Ontario. There is a single 1986 record in Alberta, associated with imported seeds, but the disease has not been found since. The record in British Columbia is very old (1951), in two growers’ crops near Victoria, and again the disease has not been found since. In both cases, the situation should be classed as "Absent : pest no longer present".
Xanthomonas fragariae (A2 list) has been found in New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Québec as well as Ontario.
Fungi
Anisogramma anomala (A1 list) is confined to eastern Canada (Manitoba, Ontario and Québec as well as Nova Scotia). Although the fungus is present in Washington and Oregon (neighbouring seaboard states of USA), the statement in QPE that it has spread from them to British Columbia, and the consequent record in that province in DMQPE is erroneous. Movement of plants for planting of Corylus from infested areas into British Columbia is restricted by federal phytosanitary measures.
Colletotrichum acutatum (EU Annexes) occurs in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Québec as well as British Columbia and Manitoba. Records are sporadic.
Gymnosporangium globosum (A1 list) occurs in Manitoba as well as Ontario and Québec. As stated in DMQPE, the record in Saskatchewan is doubtful.
Phytophthora cinnamomi (no longer listed by EPPO or EU) occurs in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Québec as well as British Columbia. The scattered records concern a variety of different hosts.
Puccinia horiana (A2 list) has been confirmed in 1997 as eradicated in British Columbia. There are occasional records from Ontario glasshouses.
Tilletia controversa (A2 list until deleted in 1999-09) is given in DMQPE as present in Alberta, but this is erroneous as already indicated by RS 98/066. It is present in British Columbia and Ontario.
Viruses etc.
Barley stripe mosaic hordeivirus (no longer listed by EPPO or EU) is present only at very low levels, because all breeder’s seed of barley is screened before release. It is now extremely rare in western Canada.
Peach latent mosaic viroid (no longer listed by EPPO or EU) is probably widespread in Canada The viroid was detected in 50 trees of peach and nectarine cvs at the national repository at Sidney, British Columbia in 1996. Material from this repository has been widely distributed to other areas in Canada.
Strawberry latent ringspot nepovirus (EU Annexes) has only been found on one occasion, in imported cherry trees in Ontario in 1970. The trees were destroyed and the pest has not been found since. Its status is accordingly “Absent: no longer present”. The DMQPE record for Nova Scotia is erroneous.
Tomato black ring nepovirus (EU Annexes) has only been found once, in Ontario, on material imported from Europe (Stobbs & Van Schagen, Can. J. Plant Path. 7, 37-40, 1985) and destroyed. The site was monitored for 5 years and the virus was not detected again. Stobbs & Van Schagen also report that a virus found in cv. Joannes Seyve in Ontario was named Joannes Seyve virus and found to be closely related serologically to TBRV. Bovey & Martelli (1992) considered it to be a strain of TBRV. However, this virus has also not been found since. So the status of TBRV in Canada should be “Absent: no longer present”.
Tomato ringspot nepovirus (A2 list) occurs in New Brunswick as well as in British Columbia and Ontario.
Nematodes
Ditylenchus destructor (EU Annexes) has long been “Absent: eradicated” in Canada. Infested fields in Prince Edward Island were established as a quarantine area in the 1940s and an eradication programme was implemented. The area then remained out of potato production for over 20 years. Extensive surveys have been negative since the 1960s.
Globodera pallida (A2 list), present only in Newfoundland, has an extremely limited distribution (Botwood area only). Federal phytosanitary measures restrict spread.
Radopholus similis (A2 list), reported only in British Columbia, has only been found on rare occasions in glasshouses. It does not survive out of doors. (This information already appeared in PQR).
Insects
Bemisia tabaci (A2 list), though recorded in six provinces, has only been found in glasshouses, associated with imported plant material.
Carposina niponensis (A2 list) occurs in Manitoba, Ontario and Québec, but only as its subspecies ottawana, which does not attack Rosaceae. Its status in Canada can therefore be described as “Absent: pest status invalid”.
Circulifer tenellus (EU Annexes) was not recorded in Canada in DMQPE. It is an annual migrant into the southern interior of British Columbia.
Conotrachelus nenuphar (A1 list), which occurs generally in eastern Canada, has been reported in British Columbia only once, in 1917, on the basis of damage. This record has since been refuted, and is probable that the record of Bousquet (1991) Checklist of Beetles of Canada and Alaska, which was taken up in DMQPE, was based on this refuted record. There are no other records in British Columbia.
Ips typographus (EU Annexes) was trapped at the port of Montréal (Ontario) in 1996, probably associated with used containers and dunnage which were then destroyed by burning. It has not since been trapped in surveys. Its status can accordingly be described as “Absent: pest no longer present”.
Popillia japonica (A2 list) only occurs in Ontario and Québec, and not in Nova Scotia. An outbreak in the Halifax area in the 1940s was eradicated in the early 1950s. There have been no recent records from Nova Scotia.
Rhagoletis cingulata (A1 list), present in many provinces, is also given as present in Newfoundland by DMQPE, on the basis of the 1990 edition of CABI pest map 159. This is an error.
All these points have been added to Version 3.9 of PQR, with greater detail in many cases. This version will be sent out around the end of October 1999. Revised maps will progressively (over coming months) be prepared and displayed on the EPPO Web Site.
It may be noted that, since publication of DMQPE in 1998, many detailed adjustments to the geographical distribution of EPPO and EU quarantine pests have been provided in the Reporting Service (besides the above Canadian corrections). Many maps could now be displayed on the Web Site in slightly revised versions. The EPPO Secretariat is considering how to assign priorities for doing this.
Sources
NPPO of Canada, 1999-09