A new U.S. continental record in Florida and potential pest of Florida lychee
Issue No. 441
Muhammad Z. Ahmed, Ph.D., Douglass Miller, Ph.D.; Bureau of Entomology, Nematology and Plant Pathology
August, 2019
Introduction
Samples of Thysanofiornia leei Williams were submitted by Shannan Webb (FDACS-DPI) on February 28 and April 16, 2019 from Broward County (E2019-1545, E2019-1961). These were identified as a new U.S. continental record and confirmed by Dr. Gregory A. Evans (USDA/ APHIS/ PPQ) and Scott Schneider (USDA/ ARS/ SEL). A sample from another location in Broward County was submitted on May 6, 2019 by Christina Urbina (FDACS-DPI) (E2019-2470) confirming its presence in the county. Three more recent samples represent new county records: Collier County submitted by Leonora Coleman (FDACS-DPI) on April 30, 2019 (E2019- 2458); Lee County submitted by Terri Jones (USDA) on May 22, 2019 (E2019-2907); and Charlotte County submitted by Matt Brodie (FDACS-DPI) on June 4, 2019 (E2019-3120). Reevaluating older Florida samples of a closely related species, the longan scale, Thysanofiorinia nephelii (Maskell), we discovered first instar specimens of T. leei from Broward County (E2004-8090) and Miami- Dade County (E2005-299) collected 15 years earlier. The longan scale was first reported from Florida in 1996 with two independent finds in Miami-Dade County. For the next five years, there were a few records of the longan scale’s occurrence in the field (Suh et al. 2007) and it remains a minor pest. The lychee leei scale may have been in Florida at unnoticeable population levels since 2004.