Cacopsylla tobirae (Miyatake), 2013

Matsunaga, Janis N., Howarth, Francis G. & Kumashiro, Bernarr R., 2019, New State Records and Additions to the Alien Terrestrial Arthropod Fauna in the Hawaiian Islands, Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society 51 (1), pp. 1-71 : 11

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.10832895
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03B8CF30-054C-DD20-1B25-1384FC4CFE8A
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Cacopsylla tobirae (Miyatake)
status

Treatment

Cacopsylla tobirae (Miyatake) View in CoL View at ENA

NEW STATE RECORD

A suspected new psyllid infesting Japanese pittosporum ( Pittosporum tobira ) on the University of Hawaii campus in Manoa, Oahu was reported to HDOA in July 2013. Subsequent surveys found several sites with heavy infestations around the Pawaa, Honolulu areas on P. tobira plants. Specimens were tentatively identified as Cacopsylla tobirae (Miyatake) ( Conant 2013) and forwarded to USDA-ARS-SEL quickly after. Identifiers at USDA-ARS-SEL could not provide a species identification and thus these samples remained unidentified.

A publication by Bertone in 2016 revealed that North Carolina State University was able to confirm the identity of C. tobirae collected in North Carolina in 2014 with the help of USDA-ARS-SEL. With this publication, additional samples collected in 2013 were resubmitted to USDA-ARS-SEL in June, 2017 and quickly confirmed as C. tobirae by Cheryle O’Donnell shortly after.

Cacopsylla tobirae View in CoL , a native of Asia, is an invasive pest species of the common ornamental Japanese pittosporum plants and has been recorded from California ( Percy et al. 2012), North Carolina ( Bertone 2016), and now Hawaii. In 2013, severe leaf curl and stunting of terminal branches, as well as extreme sooty mold growth was seen on infested plants at several sites around urban Honolulu. Follow-up surveys in 2017 revealed that P. tobira View in CoL plants at three of four sites with infestations in 2013 were removed, though it is uncertain why. It can be speculated that the infestation was so severe that plants were either dying or too hard to maintain. However, the original site at University of Hawaii Manoa View in CoL maintained the plants. A much lower population density was found with the discovery of a pupal endoparasitoid. In May 2017, a species of Pysllaephagus ( Hymenoptera View in CoL : Encyrtidae View in CoL ) was found parasitizing the pupae at rates over 60%. This species is pending identification, but also appears to be a new state record for Hawaii.

Collection records: OAHU, Manoa View in CoL , University of Hawaii

campus, 8.VII.2013, ex. Pittosporum tobira foliage, coll. S. Nelson, det. W. Nagamine, 8.VII.2013 ; Pawaa , 9.VII.2013 ; ex. P. tobira foliage, coll. M. Tauyan, det. W. Nagamine, 9.VII.2013, conf. C. O’Donnell , 8.VI.2017 ; Manoa , University of Hawaii campus, 31.V.2017 , ex. P. tobira foliage, coll. J.N. Matsunaga & K. Wong, det. J.N. Matsunaga, 31.V.2017. Vouchers at HDOA .