EPPO Global Database

EPPO Reporting Service no. 05 - 2017 Num. article: 2017/093

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

Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae, formerly EPPO Alert List) is reported for the first time from Slovakia. In October 2016, one specimen (a 5th instar nymph) was collected from a house wall in the city of Štúrovo in Southern Slovakia (Hemala & Kment, 2017). Present, only one specimen found in 2016.

Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae, formerly EPPO Alert List) is reported for the first time from Spain. In September 2016, one specimen (a 4th instar nymph) was found in the University Campus in Girona, Cataluña (Dioli et al., 2016). Present, only one specimen found in 2016.


  • Detailed records

Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae, formerly EPPO Alert List) is reported for the first time from Sardegna (IT). In November 2016, 2 adult specimens were found in the city of Cagliari (Dioli et al., 2016).

In North Carolina (US), Meloidogyne enterolobii (EPPO A2 List) has been found in sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) commercial fields in the counties of Columbus, Johnston, Wayne and Wilson (INTERNET, 2017).


  • Diagnostics

Two new LAMP tests have been developed for Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (EPPO A2 List): 1) to detect P. syringae pv. actinidiae (biovars 1, 2 and 3) in diseased Actinidia plant material (symptomatic and asymptomatic); and 2) to distinguish strains which specifically belong to biovar 3 (Ruinelli et al., 2017).


  • Host plants

In Romania, Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae, formerly EPPO Alert List) was first found in Bucharest in 2014. In 2015 and 2016, observations carried out in the experimental fields of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest showed that H. halys can cause severe damage to goji berries (Lycium barbarum, Solanaceae) (Ciceoi & Mardare, 2016).


  • Epidemiology

Studies conducted in California (US) have shown that Spissistilus festinus (Hemiptera: Membracidae) could acquire Grapevine red blotch-associated virus (unassigned Geminiviridae, GRBaV – EPPO Alert List) from a diseased grapevine (Vitis sp.) and could then transmit the virus to healthy grapevines under laboratory conditions. S. festinus is native to North America. It is not considered to be a serious pest in vineyards but its feeding activities on petioles and lateral shoots can result in a characteristic girdle. Leaves which are attached to girdled petioles or shoots then turn red. During these studies, it has also been shown that in some commercial Californian vineyards, lateral shoots girdled by S. festinus tested positive for GRBaV using digital PCR. Although further studies are needed, these results indicate that S. festinus could play a role in the disease transmission in vineyards (Bahder et al., 2016).


  • New pests and taxonomy

A new nematode species, Anguina obesa n. sp., has been described in Iran. While visiting a garden in Northern Iran, ears of foxtail weed plants (Alopecurus myosuroides) displaying yellowish white florets were observed. Close inspection of the florets showed dark-purple masses (small seed galls formed inside the ovaries) which when dissected were found to contain mature females, males, juveniles and eggs of a nematode. Morphological and molecular studies indicated the presence of a new nematode species (Mobasseri et al., 2016).

A new soybean cyst nematode, Heterodera sojae n. sp., has been described in the Republic of Korea. This new species was found on roots of soybean (Glycine max) plants collected in Miryang (Gyeongsangnam-do) in 2011 during a survey of soybean nematodes (Kang et al., 2016).

Recent studies carried out in South Africa on bacterial blight of onion (Allium cepa) have shown that the disease is caused by two pathovars of Pseudomonas syringae: P. syringae pv. porri and a new pathovar called P. syringae pv. allii. In the field, symptoms caused by these two pathovars on onion crops were indistinguishable (Moloto et al., 2017).


Sources

Bahder BW, Zalom FG, Jayanth M, Sudarshana MR (2016) Phylogeny of Geminivirus coat protein sequences and digital PCR aid in identifying Spissistilus festinus as a vector of Grapevine red blotch-associated virus. Phytopathology 106(10), 1223-1230.
Ciceoi R, Mardare ES (2016b) The risks assessment of Aceria kuko (Kishida) and Halyomorpha halys (Stal) pests for the Romanian goji growers. Poster presented at the Joint EFSA-EPPO Workshop: Modelling in Plant Health – how can models support risk assessment of plant pests and decision-making? (Parma, IT, 2016-12-12/14). http://archives.eppo.int/MEETINGS/2016_conferences/modelling/161212_posters.zip
Dioli P, Leo P, Maistrello L (2016) [First records in Spain and Sardinia of the alien species Halyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855), with notes on its distribution in Europe (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae)]. Revista gaditana de Entomología 7(1), 539-548 (in Italian and Spanish).
Hemala V, Kment P (2017) First record of Halyomorpha halys and mass occurrence of Nezara viridula in Slovakia (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae). Plant Protection Science. DOI: 10.17221/166/2016-PPS
INTERNET
North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. News Release of 2017-05-10. NCDA & CS warns of emerging nematode that could impact the state's sweet potato crop. http://www.ncagr.gov/paffairs/release/2017/5-17emergingnematode.htm
Kang H, Eun G, Ha J, Kim Y, Park N, Kim D, Choi I (2016) New cyst nematode, Heterodera sojae n. sp. (Nematoda: Heteroderidae) from soybean in Korea. Journal of Nematology 48(4), 280–289 (via PestLens).
Moloto VM, Goszczynska T, du Toit LJ, Coutinho TA (2017) A new pathovar of Pseudomonas syringae, pathovar allii, isolated from onion plants exhibiting symptoms of blight. European Journal of Plant Pathology 147(3), 591-603.
Ruinelli M, Schneeberger PHH, Ferrante P, Bühlmann A, Scortichini M, Vanneste JL, Duffy B, Pothier JF (2017) Comparative genomics-informed design of two LAMP assays for detection of the kiwifruit pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae and discrimination of isolates belonging to the pandemic biovar 3. Plant Pathology 66(1), 140–149.