First Report of Aulacaspis yasumatsui (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) in Africa (Ivory Coast), and Update on Distribution

Abstract

Cycas species and their relatives have been a staple in the Florida landscapes for 50 years. In the last 25 to 30 years the popularity of these plants in the landscape has increased worldwide. In 1996, a devastating pest to cycads was intro duced into Florida, the cycad Aulacaspis scale (Aulacaspis yasumatsui Takagi). This insect has since plagued both homeowner and grower alike in Florida and has been a significant pest in many other areas of the world. The origin of the Cycad Aulacaspis scale (CAS) is from Southeast Asia where it was described in Thailand by Takagi (1977) from specimens col lected in Bangkok on Cycas sp. in 1972. It is cur rently considered established in the following Countries in Asia: in Hong-Kong, southern por tion of China (Howard & Wessling 1999), in Sin gapore in 2000 (Hodgson & Martin 2001), and also from Taiwan in 2000 (Shih 2003). Following its introduction in Florida in 1996 (Howard et al. 1999), A. yasumatsui spread in the Caribbean established in American Virgin Is lands, Cayman islands (Howard & Weissling 1999), Puerto Rico (Halbert 2000), Barbados 2003 (Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development, Barbados website). In Oceania its presence is proven in Hawaii (Heu & Chun 2000) and CAS is regularly intercepted on cycads from Hawaii in California (G. Watson, personal communication). Although many of the southern states have inter cepted CAS on infested Cycas revoluta Thunb., it has only been verified as being established in the landscape in Louisiana (Pollet, Louisiana State University, personal communication) and Texas (samples verified by Hodges, FDACS-DPI, 2005). It is present in Micronesia on the island of Guam where it is causing major devastation to the natural forests (Moore et al. 2005) and it was intercepted in 2004, in New Zealand, on imported cycads of Costa-Rica. CAS was detected and all plants associated with it were destroyed (Paice et al. 2005) The authors emphasize that Aulacaspis yasumatsui is not established in NZ, on the other hand the origin of the cycads confirms the pres ence of CAS in Costa Rica. In Europe, CAS is regularly intercepted by many of the Plant Protection Services from vari ous European Countries. The first recorded inter ception dates to 1995 on cycads imported in the Netherlands and coming from Vietnam (Jansen, 1996). The Netherlands Plant Protection Service recorded CAS 5 times in 2004 and 4 times in 2005. The records are as follows: imported from Taiwan (lx), Vietnam (lx) and Costa Rica (2x) and the rest in greenhouses (5x). During the time period between 1995 and 2004 CAS was not detected (Jansen, personal communication). In France, it was intercepted several times in 2001 at the checkpoints of Marseille and in nurs ery gardens of the French Riviera, on imported cycads of Vietnam (Germain 2001a). The same year we identified CAS in the department of Ain, close to the Switzerland border, on a cycad coming from Germany (Germain 2001b). The species does not seem to have been established in France even though we found it on container and nursery grown cycads in Nice during Nov 2004. In the UK, CAS was detected at a commercial plant nursery in England on Cycads imported from Vietnam via the Netherlands on Apr 2006. This is the first in terception of this species in the UK. Action is be ing taken to eradicate the pest (C. Malumphy per sonal communication). In Italy this species has not been intercepted (G. Pellizzari, personal com munication). In the French department of the Antilles the Service de la Protection des V?g?taux of Martin ique indicated that armored scales near A. ya sumatsui were taken on cycads at Fort-de-France on Nov 3, 2005. Cycad Aulacaspis scale is re garded as established in Martinique. Its presence on imported cycads of Costa Rica in various coun tries makes it possible to affirm its spreading in Central America. In Jan 2006, A. yasumatsui Takagi (Hemip tera: Diaspididae) was identified in France from cut foliage of cycads imported from the Ivory Coast in Africa. This interception enables us to consider Cycad Aulacaspis Scale (CAS) as being present in the Ivory Coast, and would be consid ered as the first record of CAS in Africa. This