Eradication of thousand canker disease in disease in Toscana (Italy)
In Italy, both the fungus Geosmithia morbida and its vector Pityophthorus juglandis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae - walnut twig beetle) the causal agents of thousand cankers disease (EPPO A2 List), were recorded for the first time in the Veneto region in 2013. They were subsequently found in Piemonte in 2015 (EPPO RS 2016/153), in Lombardia in 2016, in Toscana in 2018 and in Emilia-Romagna in 2019 (RS 2019/102). The NPPO of Italy recently informed the EPPO Secretariat that the outbreak in Rosano (province of Firenze, Toscana) is considered eradicated. In January 2019, the whole infested walnut plantation (mainly Juglans nigra with a few scattered J. regia) was destroyed. In 2019 and 2020, monitoring was carried out in 28 sites in the provinces of Firenze and Arezzo, through the use of traps and visual inspections. The pests were not detected.
The pest status of Geosmithia morbida in Italy is officially declared as: Present, only in some parts of the Member State concerned.
The situation of Pityophthorus juglandis can be described as: Present, only in some parts of the Member State concerned.
Sources
NPPO of Italy (2020-10).