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
Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae - EPPO A2 List) is first reported from Georgia. Two specimens were trapped in autumn 2017 in the Ajara region (Japoshvili et al., 2018). Present, only in some areas.
Prodiplosis longifila (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae - EPPO A1 List) was first reported from Bolivia in 2016 on the native plant Jatropha clavuligera (Euphorbiaceae) during surveys carried out to identify potential biocontrol agents against J. gossypifolia, an invasive plant in Australia. P. longifila induced rosette galls on shoots, which is different from symptoms observed on other host plants in countries where P. longifila occurs. P. longifila also induced rosette galls on J. gossypifolia during experiments. Surveys were done in fields of tomato, potato, orange, bell pepper and cotton in the vicinity of infested J. clavuligera, but no damage was observed. Terminal shoots of tomato, orange and cotton were examined under a stereomicroscope but no larvae of P. longifila could be found. It is noted that there is no record of P. longifila as a pest on any crops in Bolivia (Dhileepan et al., 2017)
According to the ‘FAO map of areas affected by fall armyworm in Africa and Asia’, Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae – EPPO A1 List) was first found in 2019 in Indonesia (see RS 2019/139 for more details), Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam (FAO, 2019). Present, no details.
Trilocha varians (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae) is first reported from Cyprus. This insect was found in 14 Ficus trees in a public site (NPPO of Cyprus, 2019-02). This pest of Ficus trees originates in Asia and is known to occur in Southern China, India, Indonesia (Java, Sumatra), Myanmar, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam (Kedar et al., 2014).
The pest status of Trilocha varians in Cyprus is officially declared as: Transient, actionable, under surveillance.
Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae – EPPO A2 List) was first found in Burundi in 2018. The pest was trapped during a survey conducted from March to July 2018 in 3 tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) farms and 1 garden in Western Burundi. Damage on tomato leaves and fruit was observed in all studied sites (Ndayizeye et al., 2019). Present, only in some areas.
- Detailed records
In Italy, Aleurocanthus spiniferus (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae – EPPO A2 List) was first found in 2008 in Puglia region (EPPO RS 2008/092, 2010/147). In 2017, A. spiniferus was found in Campania and Lazio regions (EPPO RS 2017/157). In 2018, it was found in Basilicata region on 7 citrus trees in an urban garden in Montalbano Jonico. Phytosanitary treatments were applied (NPPO of Italy, 2019). EFSA (2018) also states that it was found in 2018 in Emilia-Romagna (Bologna).
The pest status of Aleurocanthus spiniferus in Italy is officially declared as: Present, only in some parts of the Member State concerned.
Crisicoccus pini (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae – EPPO Alert List) occurs in Hong Kong, China. A single specimen was collected from Pinus massoniana in the Tai Lung Experimental Station (Martin and Lau, 2011).
In Portugal Meloidogyne luci (EPPO Alert list) was first detected in 2013 in a potato field near Coimbra (RS 2017-217). In December 2017, it was found in 2 new locations (Figueira da Foz and Montemor-o-Velho) also in the region of Coimbra, infecting tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) as well as two new host plants: the ornamental plant Cordyline australis, and the weed Oxalis corniculata (Santos et al., 2019).
Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae – EPPO A1 List) occurs in Madhya Pradesh, India, where it attacks maize (Zea mays) crops (Mahadeva Swamy et al., 2018).
In Poland, an outbreak of Tomato spotted wilt virus (Tospovirus, TSWV – EPPO A2 List) was found in a nursery producing plants for planting of chrysanthemum in Rzgów. All plants from contaminated lots were destroyed (burned) (NPPO of Poland, 2018-04).
The pest status of Tomato spotted wilt virus in Poland is officially declared as: Present, only in some parts of the Member State concerned.
- Eradication
An incursion of Thaumatotibia leucotreta (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae – EPPO A2 List) was reported in Germany in June 2018, in a glasshouse producing Capsicum annuum fruit (EPPO RS 2018/160). Surveys were conducted with traps and/or visual inspections of plants and fruit from September 2018 to May 2019 and the pest was no longer detected (NPPO of Germany, 2019).
The pest status of Thaumatotibia leucotreta in Germany is officially declared as: Absent, pest eradicated.
- Host plants
In China, Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum (EPPO A2 List) has been causing severe damage in fields of sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis, Euphorbiaceae) in Hainan Province since 2016. The cultivation of this perennial plant native to Peru is increasing worldwide because its edible seeds are rich in omega-3 (Wang et al., 2018).
In Brazil, Tomato chlorosis virus (Crinivirus, ToCV – EPPO A2 List) was detected for the first time naturally infecting Nicandra physaloides plants in Goiás State and Federal District. This weed is often found in tomato fields in Brazil (Souza et al., 2019). It is considered to be an invasive alien plant in some EPPO countries.
Sources
Dhileepan K, Neser S, Rumiz D, Raman A, Sharma A (2017) Host associations of gall-inducing Prodiplosis longifila (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) from Bolivia: Implications for its use as a biological control agent for Jatropha gossypiifolia (Euphorbiaceae). Florida Entomologist 100(4), 777-786. https://doi.org/10.1653/024.100.0402
EFSA Plant Health Panel, Bragard C, Dehnen-Schmutz K, Di Serio F, Gonthier P, Jacques M-A, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, Magnusson CS, Milonas P,Navas-Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Reignault PL, Thulke H-H, Van der Werf W, Vicent Civera A,Yuen J, Zappalà L, Navarro MN, Kertesz V, Czwienczek E and MacLeod A (2018) Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Aleurocanthus spp. EFSA Journal 2018 16(10):5436, 31 pp. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5436
FAO (2019) FAO in emergencies. Map of areas affected by fall armyworm in Africa and Asia. http://www.fao.org/emergencies/resources/maps/detail/en/c/902959/
Japoshvili G, Dzneladze N, Kirkitadze G Kiss B Kaydan MB (2018) A new and dangerous pest for the Caucasus – Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura, 1931) (Diptera: Drosophilidae). Annals of Agrarian Science 16(4), 464-465.
Kedar SC, Kumaranag KM and Saini RK (2014) First report of Trilocha (=Ocinara) varians and its natural enemies on Ficus spp. from Haryana, India. Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 2(4), 268-270.
Mahadeva Swamy HM, Asokan R, Kalleshwaraswamy CM, Sharanabasappa, Prasad YG, Maruthi Ms, Shashank PR, Devi NI, Surakasula A, Adarsha S, Srinivas A, Rao S, Vidyasekhar, Shali Raju M, Shyam Sunder Reddy G, Nagesh SN (2018) Prevalence of ‘R’ strain and molecular diversity of fall army worm Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in India. Indian Journal of Entomology 80(3), 544-553. DOI: 10.5958/0974-8172.2018.00239.0
Martin JH, Lau CSK (2011) The Hemiptera-Sternorrhyncha (Insecta) of Hong Kong, China - An annotated inventory citing voucher specimens and published records. Zootaxa 2847, 1–122.
Ndayizeye L, Manirakiza O, Ntashavu D, Ddayikeza L, Mbarushimana D (2019) First record of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in Burundi. EPPO Bulletin 49(early view) DOI: 10.1111/epp.12567
NPPO of Cyprus (2019-02)
NPPO of Germany (2019-06)
NPPO of Italy (2019-06).
Santos D, Correia A, Abrantes I, Maleita C (2019) New hosts and records in Portugal for the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne luci. Journal of Nematology 51, e2019-03. DOI: 10.21307/jofnem-2019-003
Souza TA, Macedo MA, Inoue-Nagata AK (2019) Natural infection of apple-of-Peru (Nicandra physaloides) with Tomato chlorosis virus in Brazil. Plant Disease 103(3), p 593. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-03-18-0399-PDN
Wang GF, LI H, Zhou Y, Yang LY, Ding ZJ, Huang JS, Pan BZ (2018) Bacterial wilt of sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis) caused by Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum Phylotype I in Southern China. Plant Disease 103(2), p 364. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-04-18-0615-PDN