Three years after its first report in Sicily, on ornamental sour orange trees adorning streets in the town of Catania as well as in some citrus areas of its province, the Orange spiny whitefly (OSW) Aleurocanthus spiniferus (Quaintance) shows a wide distribution in the island, having been detected in five (Caltanissetta, Catania, Messina, Palermo, Syracuse) out of the nine provinces of this region. Considering that citrus is an outstanding production in Italy and more than 50% of Italian citrus are produced in Sicily, we can explain why the spread of OSW in Sicily has created great alarm among citrus growers and the need to set up adequate control measures. In the frame of the monitoring activities aimed at assessing the spreading status of this invasive whitefly species, regular surveys are being realised in Sicily from summer 2023, which results show how the OSW is the second most frequent and abundant whitefly species on Sicilian citrus, after the Woolly whitefly Aleurothrixus floccosus (Maskell). Moreover, starting from late summer 2023, an interesting active parasitization over the OSW has emerged during the surveys by a Hymenopterous species belonging to the Eretmocerus serius group, which has been very recently recorded as new to Europe. After only a few months from its first finding (at very low density) in Sicily, this parasitoid shows to be present both in the eastern and the western provinces, with over 30% parasitization activity on the OSW nymphs and proving to be an interesting biological control agent of the new whitefly.
STATUS OF THE ORANGE SPINY WHITEFLY, ALEUROCANTHUS SPINIFERUS, IN SICILY AND ITS PARASITOID ERETMOCERUS SP. GR. SERIUS
Farina A.;Rapisarda C.
2024-01-01
Abstract
Three years after its first report in Sicily, on ornamental sour orange trees adorning streets in the town of Catania as well as in some citrus areas of its province, the Orange spiny whitefly (OSW) Aleurocanthus spiniferus (Quaintance) shows a wide distribution in the island, having been detected in five (Caltanissetta, Catania, Messina, Palermo, Syracuse) out of the nine provinces of this region. Considering that citrus is an outstanding production in Italy and more than 50% of Italian citrus are produced in Sicily, we can explain why the spread of OSW in Sicily has created great alarm among citrus growers and the need to set up adequate control measures. In the frame of the monitoring activities aimed at assessing the spreading status of this invasive whitefly species, regular surveys are being realised in Sicily from summer 2023, which results show how the OSW is the second most frequent and abundant whitefly species on Sicilian citrus, after the Woolly whitefly Aleurothrixus floccosus (Maskell). Moreover, starting from late summer 2023, an interesting active parasitization over the OSW has emerged during the surveys by a Hymenopterous species belonging to the Eretmocerus serius group, which has been very recently recorded as new to Europe. After only a few months from its first finding (at very low density) in Sicily, this parasitoid shows to be present both in the eastern and the western provinces, with over 30% parasitization activity on the OSW nymphs and proving to be an interesting biological control agent of the new whitefly.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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Farina & Rapisarda, 2024 - Aleurocanthus spiniferus.pdf
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