Interception of a new and undescribed species of Josephiella on Ficus microcarpa bonsais from China
The Italian NPPO recently informed the EPPO Secretariat that during regular import controls carried out in November 2015 at the Napoli seaport, 921 Ficus microcarpa bonsai plants from China were inspected and found to be infested by several pests. The entire consignment was stored in a refrigerated container. During the inspection, several scale insects and galls were detected on shoots. Samples were collected in order to identify the scale species and determine the possible causes of gall formation. Samples of growing medium (soil) were also taken to verify the presence of nematodes. The presence of Lecanium sp., (Hemiptera: Coccidae), Ceroplastes floridensis (Hemiptera: Coccidae) and nematodes (Meloidogyne sp.) was confirmed with the scientific support of Dr Umberto Bernardo from the Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, National Council of Research (CNR – Portici, Napoli). As a consequence, official measures were taken: the imported consignment was rejected and an interception procedure was initiated through Europhyt, the EU interception notification system.
The determination of the possible causes that induced gall formation has proven to be more difficult because no similar description of galls on shoots and branches of F. microcarpa could be found in literature. The dissection of galls, under a microscope, showed that they were mono- or multilocular and only occurred on stems. Galls on old shoots displayed adult exit holes while those on young shoots did not show any holes. Many dead adults were found inside old galls but some living larvae were found inside young galls. Some insect specimens were dissected to prepare slides, while others were mounted on cards as dried specimens or used to extract DNA. Morphological identification has shown that specimens belonged to the genus Josephiella (Hymenoptera: Agaonidae) but corresponded to an undescribed species. A comparison with pictures sent by Dr Rasplus (INRA, France), an expert of this insect group, confirmed this identification. Investigations are continuing to describe this new Josephiella species.
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EPPO note: until now, only two species of Josephiella have been described: Josephiella malabarensis and Josephiella microcarpae (blister leaf gall wasp). These species are reported to cause leaf galls (and not shoot galls) in Ficus spp. J. malabarensis was first identified in 1993 from leaf galls collected from F. bengalensis in Kerala, India. J. microcarpae was first identified on leaf galls of F. microcarpa collected in the late 1900s from Hawaii (US), California (US) and Islas Canarias (Tenerife, La Gomera - Spain). The presence of J. microcarpae has also been reported in Sicilia (2002 - Italy), Florida (2007 - US), and Malta (reported in 2011 but leaf galls have been observed since 2006 at least). In Florida, defoliation of F. microcarpa caused by J. microcarpae has been reported in some cases. The native range of J. microcarpae is unknown but in some publications this species is mentioned as originating from Southeast Asia.
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Sources
NPPO of Italy (2015-12).