EPPO Global Database

EPPO Reporting Service no. 02 - 2019 Num. article: 2019/027

New data on quarantine pests and pests of the EPPO Alert List


By searching through the literature, the EPPO Secretariat has extracted the following new data concerning quarantine pests and pests included (or formerly included) on the EPPO Alert List, and indicated in bold the situation of the pest concerned using the terms of ISPM no. 8.


  • New records

During official surveys, Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae – EPPO A1 List) was first caught in Réunion in 2017 in the municipalities of Le Port, Saint-Paul, La Possession, Sainte-Rose and Saint-Joseph. Trapping has been intensified and control measures (attract and kill) have been applied (NPPO of France, 2019).

The pest status of Bactrocera dorsalis in Réunion is officially declared as: Present, in all parts of the area.


Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae - EPPO A2 List) occurs in Morocco. The first specimens were found in 2013 on raspberry (Rubus idaeus) (Anonymous, 2014).


Leptoglossus occidentalis (Heteroptera: Coreidae) was reported for the first time in Costa Rica in 2018. An adult specimen was photographed on the 2018-11-28 in the district of San Rafael (province of Alajuela, Central Valley). For the moment, it is not known whether this species is established in Costa Rica (van der Heyden, 2019).



  • Detailed records

In Brazil, Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae - formerly EPPO Alert List) continues to spread. In 2016, it was found in Minas Gerais in strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) crops (Andreazza et al., 2016). In 2017, it was also found together with Zaprionus indianus (Diptera: Drosophilidae - EPPO Alert List) in the highlands of Espírito Santo infesting cultivated blackberries (Rubus sp.) and strawberries (Zanuncio et al., 2018).



  • Eradication

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (Tobamovirus - ToBRFV; EPPO Alert List) was first detected in California on tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum) in a greenhouse in Santa Barbara County in September 2018. The identity of the virus was confirmed by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) in November 2018. All infected and symptomatic plants were destroyed, and the pest is therefore not considered established. This was the first record for the USA. (Chitambar, 2018).


  • Host plants

Candidatus Phytoplasma phoenicium’ (EPPO A1 List) was identified from symptomatic apricot trees (Prunus armeniaca) in Fars Province of Iran during surveys in 2012-2015. P. armeniaca is not damaged by this pathogen in Lebanon (Alehi et al., 2018)


Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (EPPO A2 List) is first reported from diseased potato plants and tubers (Solanum tuberosum). The bacterium caused severe outbreaks in the central and northwest parts of the Russian Federation between 2011 and 2017 (Ignatov et al., 2019).



  • Epidemiology

A new haplotype of Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ (haplotype U) has been described from Finland. It was found in the psyllid, Trioza urticae (Hemiptera: Triozidae), and its host plant, Urtica dioica (stinging nettle; Urticaceae). This is the first report of Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ in a plant that belongs to neither Solanaceae nor Apiaceae. It is not known if this haplotype poses a risk to crops in Europe (Haapalainen et al., 2018). An unknown haplotype of Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ was also detected in a single specimen of Trioza urticae from a suction trap in Germany (Sjolund et al., 2019).


A new haplotype of Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ (haplotype F) has been described from the USA in potato (Solanum tuberosum). Up to now only haplotypes A and B were found in potato in the USA. This is the 7th haplotype described (Swisher Grimm and Garczynski, 2019).



  • Biological control

Field and laboratory studies conducted in Pennsylvania (US) have shown that Ooencyrtus kuvanae (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) could parasitize eggs of Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae – EPPO A1 List), and probably has the potential to become a biological control agent for this pest (Liu, 2019).


Sources

Alehi M. Salehi E, Siampour M, Quaglino F, Bianco PA (2018) Apricot yellows associated with ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma phoenicium’ in Iran. Phytopathologia Mediterranea 57(2), 269-283.
 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14601/Phytopathol_Mediterr-22588

Andreazza F, Haddi K, Oliveira EE, Ferreira JAM (2016) Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) arrives at Minas Gerais State, a main strawberry production region in Brazil. Florida Entomologist 99(4), 796-798.

Anonymous (2014) Alerte. Drosophila suzukii. Agriculture du Maghreb no. 76 p 16.

Chitambar J (2018) California pest rating for Tomato brown rugose fruit virus. https://blogs.cdfa.ca.gov/Section3162/?p=5843

Haapalainen M, Wang J, Latvala S, Lehtonen MT, Pirhonen M, Nissinen AI (2018) Genetic variation of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ Haplotype C and identification of a novel haplotype from Trioza urticae and stinging nettle. Phytopathology 108(8), 925–934.
 DOI https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-12-17-0410-R

Ignatov AN, Spechenkova NA, Taliansky M and Kornev KP (2019) First report of Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis infecting potato in Russia. Plant Disease 103(1), 147. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-04-18-0691-PDN

Liu H (2019) Occurrence, seasonal abundance, and superparasitism of Ooencyrtus kuvanae (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) as an egg parasitoid of the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) in North America. Forest 10(2), 79.
 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f10020079

NPPO of France (2019-02).

Sjolund MJ, Arnsdorf YM, Carnegie M, Fornefeld E, Will T (2019) ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ detected in Trioza urticae using suction trap-based monitoring of psyllids in Germany. Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection 126, 89-92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41348-018-0187-z

Swisher Grimm KD, Garczynski SF (2019) Identification of a new haplotype of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ in Solanum tuberosum. Plant Disease (early view). https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-06-18-0937-RE

Van der Heyden T (2019) First record of Leptoglossus occidentalis Heidemann (Heteroptera: Coreidae: Coreinae: Anisoscelini) in Costa Rica. Revista Chilena de Entomología 45(1), 51-53.

Zanuncio Jr JS, Fornazier MJ, Andreazza F, Culik PM, Mendonça P, Oliveira EE, do S. Martins D, Fornazier ML, Costa H, Ventura JA (2018) Spread of two invasive flies (Diptera: Drosophilidae) infesting commercial fruits in southeastern Brazil. Florida Entomologist 101(3), 522-525.