First report of Spodoptera frugiperda in Portugal (Madeira)
The NPPO of Portugal recently informed the EPPO Secretariat of the first record of Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae – EPPO A2 List) on its territory. As part of the official survey programme, one specimen (male adult) was caught in a pheromone trap located in a sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) field, in the municipality of Câmara de Lobos on Madeira Island.
The specimen was identified as S. frugiperda by the Madeira Regional Laboratory (Laboratório de Qualidade Agrícola - LQA) and confirmed by the EU Reference Laboratory for Insects and Mites. Measures are being taken according to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1134, including the immediate intensification of the official survey programme across the whole island. Several host plants could be found in the vicinity of the trapping site, but no other specimens nor symptoms of the pest were found. There are no producers of host propagating material in the vicinity of this detection site.
The pest status of Spodoptera frugiperda in Portugal is officially declared as: Present, only in some parts of the Member State concerned.
Sources
NPPO of Portugal (2023-09).
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1134 of 8 June 2023 as regards measures to prevent the introduction into, establishment and spread within the Union territory of Spodoptera frugiperda (Smith) and repealing Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/638. OJ L 149 http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_impl/2023/1134/oj