First record of Rhagoletis zoqui in Germany
The NPPO of Germany informed the EPPO Secretariat of the finding of Rhagoletis zoqui (Diptera: Tephritidae, EU Annexes as ‘non-European Tephritidae’) in a nursery in Nordrhein-Westfalen in August 2019. R. zoqui was caught in a yellow sticky trap which had been placed in a Prunus tree. This fruit fly species is native to Mexico where it infests fruit of walnut trees (Juglans regia, Juglans mollis, Juglans pyriformis). An express Pest Risk Analysis was conducted and concluded that R. zoqui could establish and cause damage to walnut production in Germany and other EU Member States. Control measures applied against Rhagoletis completa and R. suavis are likely be effective against this new species.
The pest status of Rhagoletis zoqui in Germany is officially declared as: Present, only in some parts of the Member State concerned.
Sources
NPPO of Germany (2019-09).
JKI (2019) Express – PRA1 zu Rhagoletis zoqui. Available at https://pflanzengesundheit.julius-kuehn.de/dokumente/upload/Rhagoletis-zoqui_expressPRA.pdf