New data on quarantine pests and pests of the EPPO Alert List
By searching through the literature, the EPPO Secretariat has extracted the following new data concerning quarantine pests and pests included (or formerly included) on the EPPO Alert List, and indicated in bold the situation of the pest concerned using the terms of ISPM 8.
- New records
Eutypella parasitica (formerly EPPO Alert List) is reported for the first time from Switzerland. It was detected from a canker on an Acer pseudoplatanus in a private garden in Uster (Canton of Zurich) in February 2021. The tree was removed and incinerated. The forests closest to the site were surveyed but no further Eutypella cankers were found. A previous finding was made in 2014 on an A. pseudoplatanus in a forest in Walenstadtberg (Canton of St. Gallen) but not reported. In 2021 a survey was conducted and one A. pseudoplatanus and one A. platanoides in the vicinity were found to be infected. The trees were removed and incinerated (Dubach et al., 2022).
Gnomoniopsis smithogilvyi is first reported from Ireland. It was identified from chestnut trees (Castanea sativa) in autumn 2020 in Wicklow (province of Leinster). The fungus caused cankers and branch dieback (O'Loinsigh et al., 2022).
Sirococcus tsugae (formerly EPPO Alert List) is reported for the first time from Switzerland. It was identified in August 2021 from an Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) in the canton of Lucerne. The tree presented defoliation in the periphery of the crown, dead twigs of about two-three years of age with brown needles, and partial secondary resprouting spanning across the whole crown (Stroheker et al., 2022).
Scyphophorus acupunctatus (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae – formerly EPPO Alert List) occurs in Croatia. It was first found in 2021 on the island of Hvar, in the Pelegrin peninsula and the city of Hvar, on Agave americana (Pernek & Cvetković, 2022).
- Detailed records
In Japan, Lecanosticta acicola (EPPO A2 List) was first found in 1996 in Pinus thunbergii in Shimane prefecture (Honshu). Since then, it has been found sporadically in Kyushu. Surveys conducted in 2021 in various parts of Kyushu detected L. acicola in P. thunbergii nurseries in Kurume (Fukuoka prefecture), Takanabe (Miyazaki prefecture), and Aira (Kagoshima prefecture), as well as on samples collected from trees in Kumamoto (Kumamoto prefecture). The fungus was also detected in P. thunbergii in private gardens in Osaki (Kagoshima prefecture). Comparison of sequences showed that isolated strains from Kyushu were similar to the strain first found in Shimane, strongly suggesting that L. acicola is of rather recent introduction into Japan (Akiba, 2022).
Lycorma delicatula (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae – EPPO A1 List) has been reported for the first time from Michigan (US). In August 2022, the presence of a small population was confirmed in Pontiac, Oakland county (Michigan.gov, 2022).
- Host plants
In 2020, Ditylenchus destructor (formerly EPPO A2 List) was detected in seven maize (Zea mays) fields in Heilongjiang province, China. The nematode was found on maize roots and in the rhizosphere in fields where plants were shorter and thinner than expected (Pan et al., 2021).
In China Larix olgensis (syn. Larix gmelinii var. olgensis), L. kaempferi and L. principis-ruprechtii (syn. Larix gmelinii var. principis-ruprechtii) are reported for the first time as natural hosts of the pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (EPPO A2 List). The nematode was extracted from wilted trees in Liaoning province in 2018 (Yu et al., 2019).
Sources
Akiba M (2022) [Occurrence of black pine brown spot leaf blight in Kyushu, Japan]. Abstract of a paper presented at the 133rd Annual Meeting of the Forest Society of Japan (2022-03-27). https://doi.org/10.11519/jfsc.133.0_653 (in Japanese).
Dubach V, Queloz V, Beenken L (2022) First record of Eutypella parasitica on Acer in Switzerland. New Disease Reports 45(2), e12074. https://doi.org/10.1002/ndr2.12074
Michigan.gov. Agriculture & Rural Development (2022-08-11) Spotted Lanternfly found in Oakland County. https://www.michigan.gov/mdard/about/media/pressreleases/2022/08/11/slf_pr
O'Loinsigh B, McAuley D, Bréchon AL, Vernaza ML, Ryan C, Destefanis ML, O'Hanlon R (2022) First report of the fungus Gnomoniopsis smithogilvyi causing cankers on sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) in Ireland. New Disease Reports 45(2), e12072. https://doi.org/10.1002/ndr2.12072
Pan F, Li F, Mao Y, Liu D, Chen A, Zhao D, Hu Y (2021) First detection of Ditylenchus destructor parasitizing maize in Northeast China. Life 11, 1303. https://doi.org/10.3390/life11121303
Pernek M, Cvetković S (2022) [First record of the agave weevil Scyphophorus acupunctatus Gyllenhal (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) in Croatia]. Entomologia Croatica 21(4), 25–32 (in Croatian). https://doi.org/10.17971/ec.20.1.4
Stroheker S, Ruffner B, Beenken L (2022) First report of Sirococcus tsugae on Atlas cedar in Switzerland. New Disease Reports 45(2), e12073. https://doi.org/10.1002/ndr2.12073
Yu HY, Wu H, Zhang XD, Wang L, Zhang X, Song Y (2019) Preliminary study on Larix spp. infected by Bursaphelenchus xylophilus in natural environment. Forest Pest and Disease 38, 7-10 (abst.).