JACKFRUIT, ARTOCARPUS HETEROPHYLUS, IS NOT A HOST OF DIAPHORINA CITRI (HOMOPTERA: PSYLLIDAE) IN FLORIDA

Abstract

lished in the state (Halbert & Manjunath 2005). It is considered one of the most serious pests of citrus when the pathogens that cause citrus greening, which can vector, are also present (Halbert & Manjunath 2005). Diaphorina citri is an oligophagous species with a host range within genera in the family Rutaceae, e.g.,Aegle, Aeglopsis, Afraegle, Atalantia, Balsamocitrus, Citropsis, Citrus, Clausena, Murraya, Fortunella, Linonia, Merrillia, Microcitrus, Pamburus, Poncirus, Severinia, and Swinglea (Viraktamath & Bhumannavar 2002; Tirtawidjaja 1981; Koizumi et al.1996; Chavan & Summanwar 1993; Aubert 1990a,b; Lim et al. 1990; Garnier & Bove 1993; Halbert & Manjunath 2005). In addition to these host plant associations, Shivankar et al. (2000) reported D. citri on jackfruit, Artocarpus heterophylus Lamarek, which is in the family Moraceae (Crane et al. 2002). Because there have been no other reports of D. citri infestating A. heterophylus in Florida, nor anywhere D. citri has been observed, we investigated A. heterophylus as a host plant ofD. citri. Field surveys were initiated in the fall of 2005. On Sep 30, 2005 samples of A. heterophylus and orange jasmine, Murraya paniculata, a known host of D. citri, were collected in Miami-Dade County. Ten 10-cm shoots were collected from each of two jackfruit trees located approximately 28 m from a hedge of orange jasmine. Twenty 10cm shoots also were collected from the orange jasmine hedge. Shoots were placed in individual bags and examined under a microscope to determine the numbers of eggs, nymphs, and adults per sample. The mean numbers of D. citri collected from