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Spread of P araleyrodes minei I accarino (nesting whitefly) in I talian citrus groves
Author(s) -
Longo S.,
Rapisarda C.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
eppo bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.327
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1365-2338
pISSN - 0250-8052
DOI - 10.1111/epp.12146
Subject(s) - ornamental plant , whitefly , pest analysis , orange (colour) , insect pest , outbreak , biology , horticulture , botany , geography , ecology , agroforestry , agronomy , virology
Outbreaks of P araleyrodes minei I accarino have been noted on citrus in a wide area along the whole eastern coast of S icily ( S outh I taly), in the districts of C atania, M essina and Siracusa. Until this year, the whitefly was only reported in Italy from a few samples collected on a limited number of ornamental sour orange trees in a town park in P ortici, in the district of N aples. Findings in 2014 of the insect in Sicily were made not only on ornamental citrus trees in urban areas, but more importantly in orange, lemon and mandarin commercial orchards. This severe and extremely rapid spread of P . minei in S icily (where more than half of Italian citrus are produced) represents a potential threat for the local citrus industry and requires careful monitoring to define both the actual pest status of the whitefly as well as the occurrence and role of eventual natural enemies. Brief notes on morphology, bio‐ecology and present geographical distribution of P . minei are given in this paper, together with details on the occurrences in S icily and short considerations on the pest importance and control possibilities for this insect.