Page 21 - Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2014
Basic HTML Version
© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
1
Department of Entomology and Agricultural Zoolo-
gy, Benaki Phytopathological Institute, 8 St. Delta Str.,
GR-145 61 Kifissia, Attica, Greece
Corresponding author:
Hellenic Plant Protection Journal
7:
19-23, 2014
SHORT COMMUNICATION
First record of
Glycaspis brimblecombei
Moore, 1964
(Hemiptera: Psyllidae) in Greece
P.G. Milonas
1
and G.K. Partsinevelos
1
Summary
The psyllid
Glycaspis brimblecombei
has been recorded for the first time in Greece. Infested
eucalyptus leaves were found in Attica region, Aitoloakarnania and Chania during the summer months
of 2013.
Additional keywords:
distribution, first record,
Glycaspis brimblecombei
, Hemiptera, redgum lerp psyllid
Psyllids are tiny sap-sucking insects (1-10
mm) of the superfamily Psylloidea, resem-
bling with small cicadas. There are about
3,850 species that have been described
worldwide (Li, 2011), where most develop
in woody dicotyledons (Burckhardt, 1994;
Hodkinson, 1988). One of the most danger-
ous pests for a variety of eucalyptus species
in different regions of the world is the red-
gum lerp psyllid
Glycaspis brimblecombei
(Hemiptera: Psyllidae). It is native to Aus-
tralia (Moore, 1964) and introduced into the
USA in 1998 (Brennan
et al
., 1999; Gill, 1998),
where the recent years has shown invasive
behaviour and spread across several coun-
tries (de Queiroz
et al.,
2013). In Palaearctic
region it was detected in Portugal in 2007
(Valente and Hodkinson, 2009), Spain in
2008 (Hurtado and Reina, 2008) and in Italy
in 2010 (Laudonia and Garonna, 2010). It has
been projected that there is a great poten-
tial to colonize in new countries, especial-
ly in latitude between 20
o
and 40
o
in both
hemispheres (de Queiroz
et al.,
2013).
This work reports the presence of
Gly-
caspis brimblecombei
in Greece. It was found
to infest Eucalyptus trees in Attica region
(Aigina, Vary, Varymbombi, Laurio, Marou-
si, Metamorfosi, Neo Irakleio, Peristeri, Kifi-
sia) in June 2013, and in Aitoloakarnania and
Chania in July and August 2013, respective-
ly (Figure 1). The identification was done by
the first author following the key developed
by Laudonia and Garonna (2010)
.
The Na-
tional Plant Protection Organisation of the
Ministry of Rural Development and Food
was notified immediately for the presence
of the pest in Greece.
Adults of
G. brimblecombei
are 2.5-4mm
long, winged, highly mobile, light green to
brownish colour with yellow and orange
patches (Figure 2). They can easily distin-
guish from other species from the very long
genal processes and the dorsally flat tho-
rax (Laudonia and Garonna, 2010). Detailed
morphological description of redgum lerp
psyllid has been published by Moore (1964)
and Halbert
et al.
(2001).
Eggs are orange-yellowish, stalked ovoid
and laid loose by female in new leaves (Fig-
ure 3). Larvae are reddish bronze colour
with darker wing pads which have bright
white spots. Characteristic of its appear-
ance is that larvae are settled and protected
from sugary, crystalline white conical cov-
er called lerps, with wax and honeydew ex-
cretions resembling with armoured scale in-
sects (Halbert
et al.
, 2001) (Figure 4). Larvae
continue to feed and grow under protective
