BIOLOGY, HISTORY AND WORLD STATUS OF Diaphorina citri

The asian citrus psyllid Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, is an important pest of citrus because it transmits phloem-limited bacteria (Candidatus Liberibacter spp.) responsible for citrus greening disease (huanglongbing), considered by some to be the world’s most serious disease of citrus. The psyllid has slowly spread throughout southern Asia, the Saudi Arabian Peninsula, to some islands in the Indian Ocean, and to Reunion and Mauritius to the east of southern Africa. Huanglongbing has also spread throughout most of these regions. D. citri was first reported in the Americas in Brazil during the 1940s, but huanglongbing was not observed in Brazil until 2004. Since the 1990s, the psyllid has invaded a number of New World countries in the Caribbean, West Indies, and North and Central America including the United States (Florida and Texas) and Mexico. So far in these newly-invaded New World countries, huanglongbing has only been detected in the United States (Florida), where it was first found during 2005. Subsequent surveys revealed the disease was already fairly widespread in Florida. Some speculate that the disease was introduced into Florida before the psyllid invasion. Other citrus producing areas in the United States and citrus industries in Mexico and other areas where the psyllid now occurs are rightfully concerned about the disease. The Brazilian citrus industry and a number of citrus growers in Florida have adopted a three-component management program against huanglongbing: intensive chemical control of the psyllid, aggressiv