EPPO Global Database

EPPO Reporting Service no. 03 - 2003 Num. article: 2003/034

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


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

  • New geographical records
Dacus frontalis and Dacus longistylus (Diptera: Tephritidae) are both reported for the first time from Libya. D. frontalis was observed for the first time in 1992 in Shaabia Marzak farms. It is now commonly present in the south, and is a serious pest of cucurbits. D. longistylus was first found in 1996 on Calotropis procera near Marzak city (Ramadan Abdallah, 2002). Present, widespread in the south.

  • Detailed records
Diaphorina citri (Homoptera: Psyllidae – EPPO A1 quarantine pest), vector of citrus greening is reported in Texas, US. It was first found in September 2001 on nursery citrus seedlings and on Murraya plants (French et al., 2001).

Liriomyza huidobrensis (Diptera: Agromyzidae - EPPO A2 quarantine pest) was first reported in Poland in 1998. Despite compulsory control measures, this pest is now present in many regions of the country on glasshouse crops (Dankowska & Baranowski, 2002).

In Israel, a survey showed that both B and Q biotypes of Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae – EPPO A2 quarantine pest) are present. Field populations consist of a mixture of the two biotypes, with a predominance of B biotype (Horowitz et al., 2003).


  • New host plants
Arceuthobium abietinum f.sp. concoloris (EPPO A1 quarantine pest) is reported for the first time on Tsuga mertensiana, in Oregon, USA. These trees were growing among severely infected Abies grandis (Mathiasen, 2002).

Gibberella circinata (anamorph Fusarium circinatum – EPPO Alert List) was observed causing pitch canker on 2 spruce pine trees (Pinus glabra) in Alabama (US) in July 2002 (Enebak & Carey, 2003).

Buddleia davidii is reported as a new host plant for Tomato ringspot nepovirus (EPPO A2 quarantine pest). Affected plants show bright yellow or light green line pattern symptoms on the leaves (Hughes & Scott, 2003).

Belamcanda chinensis (blackberry lily, Iridaceae) is reported a new host plant of Tomato spotted wilt tospovirus (EPPO A2 quarantine pest) in North America. The virus was observed on this ornamental plant species in Japan some 25 years ago (Adkins et al., 2003).

The weed Solanum americanum is reported as a new host plant of Tomato spotted wilt tospovirus (EPPO A2 quarantine pest) in Florida, US (University of Florida Pest Alert).


Sources

Adkins, S.; Baker, C.A.; (2003) Tomato spotted wilt virus detected in American black nightshade (Solanum americanum) in vegetable fields in southeast Florida. University of Florida Pest Alert (2003-04-07). http://extlab7.entnem.ufl.edu/PestAlert/sa-0408.htm
Adkins, S.; Breman, L.; Baker, C.A.; Wilson, S. (2003) First report of Tomato spotted wilt virus in blackberry lily in North America. Plant Disease, 87(1), p 102.
Dankowska, E.G.; Baranowski, T. (2002) Studies on some diagnostic and bioecological characteristics of Liriomyza huidobrensis (Blanchard) in Poland. Journal of Plant Protection Research, 42(1), 11-16.
Enebak, S.A.; Carey, W.A. (2003) Pitch canker caused by Fusarium circinatum identified on spruce pine in Alabama. Plant Disease, 87(4), p 449.
French, J.V.; Kahlke, C.J.; da Graça, V. (2001) First record of the Asian Citrus Psylla Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Homoptera: Psyllidae), in Texas. Subtropical Plant Science, 53, 14-15. (also on Internet http://primera.tamu.edu/kcchome/pubs/citrus
Horowitz, A.R.; Denholm, I.; Gorman, K.; Cenis, J.L.; Kontsedalov, S.; Ishaaya, I. (2003) Biotype Q of Bemisia tabaci identified in Israel. Phytoparasitica, 31(1), 94-98.
Hughes, P.L.; Scott, S.W. (2003) First report of Tomato ringspot virus in butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii). Plant Disease, 87(1), p 102.
Mathiasen, R. (2002) First report of white fir dwarf mistletoe on mountain hemlock. Plant Disease, 86(11), p 1274.
Ramadan Abdallah, A. (2002) The first record of Dacus frontalis (Becker) and Dacus longistylus (Wiedemann) in Libya. Arab and Near East Plant Protection Newsletter, 34, p 29-30.