First report of Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) in Costa Rica

Abstract

The Asian psyllid was reported in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by Costa Lima (1942) and by Catling (1970). In June 1998, the insect was detected in Florida and by September 2000 this pest had spread to 31 Florida counties (Halbert 2001). Recently this species has also been reported from Mexico (Coronado-Blanco, J.M. and Ruiz-Cancino, E. 2004). In November 2003, the Asian citrus psyllid was found for the first time in Costa Rica, in Alajuela, Heredia and San Jose provinces. It was found on sweet lime (Citrus limetioides Tanaka), Sweet orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osb.), tangerine (Citrus reticulata Blanc.), pomelo (Citrus paradisi Macf.), and Persa lime (Citrus latifolia L.). Honduras (Burckhardt and Martínez 1989) and Venezuela (Cermeli et al. 2000) are the nearest countries from which the Asian psyllid has been reported. The presence of the Asiatic citrus psyllid in Costa Rica is cause for concern since this insect is a vector of the bacteria causing Huanglongbing disease, a bacterium recently reported from both Brazil and Florida.