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Citrus Leafminer

 

Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton -- Lepidoptera:  Gracillariidae

 

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       This leafminer was first discovered in Florida in 1993 and subsequently spread to Louisiana and Texas.  It invaded Australia, South Africa, parts of West and East Africa, the Mediterranean area, Saudi Arabia to India, the Caribbean Islands,

 

 

 

Central America, Mexico and South America.  In 2000, it became established in southern California, and has since spread northward into all major citrus growing areas of the state.  These small moths can cause infestations of 90% in some areas.  Its arrival in southern California was believed to be from Mexico.  However, the native home of the leafminer is unclear, although Southeast Asia is suspected.

 

       Adults of the citrus leafminer are tiny moths (4 mm wingspread) with white and silvery scales on the forewings, with several black and tan markings, plus a black spot on each wingtip.  The hind wings and body are white, with long fringe scales extending from the hind wing margins.  The moth appears much smaller when at rest (about 2mm).  The head is very smooth-scaled and white and the haustellum has no basal scales.  Citrus leafminer is most easily detected by its meandering serpentine larval mine, usually on the ventral side of the leaf. Larvae are minute (to 3 mm), translucent greenish yellow, and located inside the leaf mine.  The pupa occurs is in a pupal cell at the leaf margin.  Adults generally are too minute to be easily noticed, and are active diurnally and evenings.

 

       The larvae make serpentine mines in tender new leaves of all varieties of citrus.  The mining causes the new flush to twist and curl and prevents it from expanding fully.  Developmental time is about three weeks, and as many as 7-8 generations occur in California.  In Florida, where bacterial canker is present, leaf mining activity creates opportunities for canker to enter, increasing the incidence of this disease.  In California, thus far, the damage has been primarily to nursery trees and new plantings because the larvae must have young citrus foliage to mine and feed on.  The period of infestation of mature citrus has been mainly in the fall months.  Mature citrus trees, except for coastal lemons, can tolerate heavy fall flush damage with little impact to fruit production.  Coastal lemons have continuous flushing of leaves and produce multiple crops of fruit.  The continuous flushing allows prolonged infestations of the leafminer that reduce tree vigor and fruit production.

 

        Control with insecticides is not very effective and very destructive to balances of effective natural enemies that were introduced earlier in citrus orchards for the control of other pests.  Local species of parasitoids adapt quickly to the mines created by this insect.  Thus, in time the infestations decline to noneconomic levels unless disturbances such as insecticidal spraying occurs. 

 

          Parasitoids reported for the citrus leafminer include 39 species from Southeastern Asia, Japan, and Australia, mostly Chalcidoidea (Heppner 1993; Kalshoven 1981; Lo and Chiu 1988).  A pheromone to attract males of the leafminer has been developed in Japan by Ando et al. (1985), called (7Z, 11Z)-7,11-hexadecadienal.  Most work has been done using chemical control, especially in India. Various spray regimes, timing of growth flushes, and promotion of biological control are recommended in Australia (Beattie 1989).  In Florida, chemical control recommendations are still being explored, but biological control and semiochemical trapping may be the most likely methods to help reduce populations of citrus leafminer in the long run.

 

 

REFERENCES:                                                                                               FURTHER RELATED REFERENCES

 

Ando, T., K. Y. Taguchi, M. Uchiyama, T. Ujiye  & H. Kuroko.  1985.  (7Z-11Z)-7,11-hexadecadienal: sex attractant of the citrus leafminer moth, Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera, Phyllocnistidae).  Agric.Biol. Chem. Tokyo 49:  3633-3653.

 

Badawy, A.  1967.  The morphology and biology of Phyllocnistis citrella Strait, a citrus leaf-miner in the Sudan.  Bull. Soc. Ent. Egypte 51:95-103.

 

Beattie, G.A.C.  1989.  Citrus Leaf miner.  New South Wales Agric. and Fisheries, Agfact, H2.AE  4:  1-4.

 

Chiu, S. C.  1985.  Biological control of citrus pests in Taiwan.  Taiwan Agric. Res. Inst., Spec. Rep. 19:  1-8.

 

Clausen, Curtis P.  1927.  The citrus insects of Japan.  USDA, Washington, D.C. Tech. Bul. 15:  1-15.

 

Clausen, Curtis P.  1931.  Two citrus leaf miners of the Far East.  USDA, Washington, D.C. Tech. Bull. 252:  1-13.

 

Clausen, Curtis P.  1933.  The citrus insects of tropical Asia.  USDA, Washington, D.C. Cir. 266:  1-35.

 

Commonwealth Agriculture Bureaux (CAB), Commonwealth Institute of Entomology. 1970.  Phyllocnistis citrella Stnt. IN: Distribution maps of pests. Ser. A, Map No 274. The Eastern Press Ltd., London.

 

Fletcher, T. B.  1920.  Life histories of Indian insects.  Microlepidoptera. Mem. Dept. Agric. India 6:  1-217, 68 pl.

 

Heppner, J. B.  1993.  Citrus Leafminer, Phyllocnistis citrella, in Florida (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae: Phyllocnistinae).  Trop. Lepid. 4:  49-64.

 

Hill, G. F.  1918.  History of citrus canker in the Northern Territory (with notes of its occurrence elsewhere).  N. Terr. Austr. Bull. 18:  1-8.

 

Ichtiar Baru Margabandhu, V.  1933.  Insect pests of oranges in the northern Circars.  Madras Agric. J.  21:  60-68.

 

Lal, K.B.  1950.  Insect-pests of fruit trees grown in the plains.  Agric. Anim. Husb. Uttar Pradesh 1:  30-45.

 

Latif, A.  &  C. M. Yunus.  1951.  Food plants of citrus leaf miner in Punjab.  Bull. Ent. Res. 42:  311-316.

 

Lo, K. C.  &  S. C. Chiu. 1988.  The illustrations of citrus insect pests and their natural enemies in Taiwan.  Taichung: Taiwan Agric. Res. Inst. 75 p.

 

Pandey. N. D. & Y. D. Pandey.  1964.  Bionomics of Phyllocnistis citrella Stt. (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae).  Indian J. Ent. 26:  417-423.

 

Pruthi, H. S.  & M. S. Mani.  1945.  Our knowledge of the insect and mine pests of the citrus in India and their control.  Imp. Council Agric. Res. Sci. Monog. 16:  1-42.

 

Reinking, O. A., &  G. W. Groff.  1921.  The kao pan seedless Siamese pummelo and its culture.  Philipp. J.  Sci. 19:  389-437.

 

Sasscer, E. R.  1915.  Important insect pests collected on imported nursery stock in 1914.   J. Econ. Ent. 8:  268-270.

 

Stainton, H. T.  1856.  Descriptions of three species of Indian Micro-Lepidoptera.  Trans. Ent. Soc. London (n.s.) 3:  301-304.

 

Wilson, C. G.  1991.  Notes on Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Phyllocnistidae) attacking four citrus varieties in Darwin.  J. Austr. Ent. Soc. 30:  77-78.

 

 

FURTHER RELATED REFERENCES:

 

El-Heneidy, A. H.  &  Fawzia A. Hawwanein.  1986.  Meteorus gyrator  Thunberg and M. rubens Nees. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae),  new recorded parasitoids, on certain lepidopterous pests in Egypt.  Zeitschrift angewandete Entomologie (1986).

 

Hawwanein, Fawzia A. & A. H.  El-Heneidy.  1988.  Comparative study of the parasitism by Microplitis rufiventris Kok. (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Periboae orbate Wied. (Diptera: Tachinidae) on main lepidopterous pests in vegetable crop fields in Egypt.  Bull. Soc. Ent. Egypte,  Econ.  Ser. 17:  127 - 135.

 

Hawwanein, Fawzia A., A. H. El-Heneidy; M. S. Abbas & A. R. Hamed, A. R.  1985.  Survey of the parasitoids of main lepidopterous pests in vegetable crop fields in Egypt.  Bull. Soc. Ent. Egypte, 65:  259 -265.

 

Honda, J. & S. V. Triapitzin.  1995a. A species description and biological comparison between a new species of Telenomus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) and Trichogramma platneri Nagarkatti (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae): two egg parasitoids of Sabulodes aegrotata (Guene=E9) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae).  Pan-Pacific Entomol. 71 (4):  227-236.

 

Honda, J. & S. V. Triapitzin.  1995b. A species description and biological comparison between a new species of Telenomus Haliday (Hymenoptera: Scelionidae) and Trichogramma platneri Nagarkatti (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae): two egg parasitoids of Sabulodes aegrotata  (Lepidoptera: Geometridae).  Pan-Pacific Entomologist 72 (3):  168-170.

 

Triapitzin, S. V. & T. M. Tretiakova.  1997.  Sexual behavior of Apanteles oenone Nixon (Hymenoptera, Braconidae), an exotic parasitoid of the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders) (Lepidoptera, Gelechiidae). Russian Entomological Journal 6 (1-2):  71-72.