EPPO Global Database

EPPO Reporting Service no. 03 - 2025 Num. article: 2025/063

Interceptions of Scirtothrips aurantii and S. dorsalis from African countries


In the last four years S. dorsalis and S. aurantii have been intercepted at import in the EU, in consignments originating from countries where these species have not been reported from scientific or official sources. 

In these countries, the presence of thrips on those plants is known, but identification of thrips at species level needs specific expertise which may not be available. As the species intercepted at import has been confirmed by morphological or molecular tests in EU countries, in the cases when several interceptions have occurred from some countries, the EPPO Secretariat considers that the presence in those countries is likely. 

It may be noted that the presence of an emerging issue with thrips on citrus has been reported in Morocco in recent years (Aboutoufail & Boutaleb, 2020; Boualam et al., 2024), but no identification at species level is available.


Table 1: Interceptions of Scirtothrips spp. from countries where the EPPO Secretariat had no previous record of presence (the date corresponds to the date of the EU report)


Country of origin

Consignment

Pest 

Date

Nb

Morocco

Fragaria x ananassa

Scirtothrips aurantii

2023-03

2

Egypt

Solanum aethiopicum

Scirtothrips

2022-10

1

Egypt

Solanum melongena

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2021-11

2

Egypt

Solanum aethiopicum

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2022-11

2

Egypt

Solanum melongena

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2022-11

1

Egypt

Solanum aethiopicum

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2022-12

1

Ghana

Ficus

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2024-11

1

Ghana

Scindapsus

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2024-11

1

Ghana

Caryota

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2024-12

1

Ghana

Ficus

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2024-12

1

Ghana

Scindapsus

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2024-12

1

Rwanda

Momordica charantia

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2022-05

1

Senegal

Momordica charantia

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2025-01

1

Tanzania

Momordica charantia

Scirtothrips 

2022-04

1

Tanzania

Momordica charantia

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2022-02

2

Tanzania

Momordica charantia

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2022-04


Tanzania

Momordica charantia

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2023-02

1

Tanzania

Momordica charantia

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2023-03

1

Tanzania

Momordica charantia

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2023-05

1

Tanzania

Momordica charantia

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2024-01

1

Tanzania

Momordica charantia

Scirtothrips dorsalis

2025-02

1



Sources

EU Interceptions of harmful organisms in imported plants and other objects https://food.ec.europa.eu/plants/plant-health-and-biosecurity/europhyt/interceptions_en

Aboutoufail A, Boutaleb Joutei (2020) Le Scirtothrips des agrumes, quelle stratégie de lutte efficace et respectueuse de l’environnement. Agriculture du Maghreb 128, 65-67. https://www.agri-mag.com/2020/07/08/le-scirtothrips-des-agrumes-quelle-strategie-de-lutte-efficace-et-respectueuse-de-lenvironnement/

Boualam Y, El Jarroudi M, Eickermann M, Sbaghi M, Lahlali R, Tychon B, Khfif K (2024) Investigating population dynamics and evaluating damage incurred by Thripidae (Thysanoptera) species in citrus orchards of Northeastern Morocco: an exemplary analysis in Berkane. Archives of Phytopathology and Plant Protection 57(9), 631-653.