The invasive South American tomato pinworm, Tuta absoluta, continues to spread in Afro-Eurasia and beyond: The new threat to tomato world production

The economic and ecological effects of invasive species, notably pests (Mack et al. 2000; Suckling and Brockerhoff 2010; Ragsdale et al. 2011), are now widely recognized (Thomas 1999; Pysek and Richardson 2010). The South American tomato pinworm Tuta absoluta Meyrick (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is an invasive pest, native to South America which was detected in eastern Spain at the end of 2006. Since then, T. absoluta has spread to the European and the North African Mediterranean Basin countries where it has become a serious agricultural threat to tomato production in both greenhouse and outdoor tomato crops (see Desneux et al. 2010 for a thorough review). This pest spreads rapidly and its status in the world has completely changed within only a few years from a South American tomato pest to a major threat to tomato world production. In this letter, we update the available information on the current distribution of T. absoluta in the world. Moreover, we describe and discuss the threat represented by the rapid spread of T. absoluta and how this pest is going to change world tomato production