Spread of Paraleyrodes minei Iaccarino (nesting whitefly) in Italian citrus groves

Outbreaks of Paraleyrodes minei Iaccarino have been noted on citrus in a wide area along the whole eastern coast of Sicily (South Italy), in the districts of Catania, Messina 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 Portici, in the district of Naples. 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 Sicily (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 Sicily and short considerations on the pest importance and control possibilities for this insect.