Insects (2023) 14 (3 - 263)

Shovon Chandra Sarkar, Séverin Hatt, Andrew Philips, Mahjuba Akter, Stephen Paul Milroy and Wie Xu (2023)
Tomato potato psyllid Bactericera cockerelli (Hemiptera: Triozidae) in Australia: Incursion, potential impact and opportunities for biological control
Insects 14 (3 - 263)
Abstract: Incursion and establishment of an exotic pest may threaten natural habitats and disrupt ecosystems. On the other hand, resident natural enemies may play an important role in invasive pest control. Bactericera cockerelli, commonly known as the tomato-potato psyllid, is an exotic pest, first detected on mainland Australia in Perth, Western Australia, in early 2017. B. cockerelli causes direct damage to crops by feeding and indirectly by acting as the vector of the pathogen that causes zebra chip disease in potatoes, although the latter is not present in mainland Australia. At present, Australian growers rely on the frequent use of insecticides to control B. cockerelli, which may lead to a series of negative economic and environmental consequences. The incursion of B. cockerelli also provides a unique opportunity to develop a conservation biological control strategy through strategically targeting existing natural enemy communities. In this review, we consider opportunities to develop biological control strategies for B. cockerelli to alleviate the dependence on synthetic insecticides. We highlight the potential of existing natural enemies to contribute toward regulating populations of B. cockerelli in the field and discuss the challenges ahead to strengthen the key role they can play through conservation biological control.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
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Database assignments for author(s): Séverin Hatt

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
review
surveys/sampling/distribution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Bactericera cockerelli	Green pepper/chilli (Capsicum)	Australia (Western)	Yes