USDA APHIS-PPQ species intercept report to Maryland Invasive Species Council (MISC) January 2014

               The Maryland Invasive Species Council (MISC) meets every other month throught the year.  MISC provides leadership concerning invasive species and encourages efforts that prevent the introduction of, and manage the impact of, invasive species on Maryland ecosystems. MISC members include federal, state and local government as well as private industry and non-profit groups.

               USDA APHIS-PPQ Baltimore makes available to MISC members, and therefore the public at-large, information about non-indigenous, and possibly invasive species interceptions. APHIS-PPQ reports regularly to MISC about its efforts to safeguard agriculture and natural resources from the entry, establishment, and spread of animal and plant pests and noxious weeds into the United States of America supporting, thereby, trade and exports of U.S. agricultural products.

               At the January 2014 meeting of MISC, APHIS-PPQ described the following port-of-entry invasive species intercepts.

Adult Dolycoris baccarum: Norfolk (May 2008) ©Tristan Bantock

 The stinkbug [need I say more] Dolycoris baccarum, the Hairy Shieldbug or Sloe Bug, a  species of shield bug of western Mediterranean origin in the family Pentatomidae. was intercepted in a shipment of tiles from Italy. Also know as the berry bug, D. baccarum is a threat to strawberries, artichokoes, potatoes, tobacco, cereals tp name but a few crops.  This pests has not been found in Norfolk since early 2009.

Dolichoderus quadripiunctatus was intercepted at the port of Baltimore for the first time and it was only the second time this species has been intercepted entering the US (first interception: Seattle 2009).

A scale identified by the national specialist as Palmaspis sp. (Asterolecaniidae) was intercepted on Arenga sp. from Jamaica. This is the first time this genus has been intercepted at BWI.

Tetraleurodes andropogoni was intercepted again by the port of Baltimore. T.andropogoni, a type of whitefly, had been found earl;ier in 2013 during an inspection of fresh leaves found inside of a traveler’s luggage carried by a passenger originating from Nigeria and arriving from the United Kingdom in Baltimore on March 10, 2013.. CBP seized the infested leaves and forwarded a specimen to a USDA- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) - Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) entomologist for identification. The remaining leaves were then destroyed by incineration.  Baltimore continues to be the only port in the US that has intercepted this pest.

  

A caterpillar was found in a shipment of Tulip popular from Chile. The caterpillar was identified as Elaphria sp. There are more than 100 species of Elaphria described

however very few of the caterpillars are known. According to Olivares et al. Elaphria bucephalina is the only species known from Chile.

Byctiscus betulae (Linnaeus, 1758)
   Atlas of beetles of Russia
 Photo by K.A. Grebennikov

 Two male and two female Byctiscus betulae (Attelabidae) were found in a shipment of tile from Italy at the Port of Norfolk. This is the first time this species has been found entering the US. This pest is a leaf roller that is reported to feed on Betula sp., Populus tremula and occasionally Salix sp.

The hopper Neophilaenus sp. Aphrophoridae (previously Cercopidae) was intercepted for the first time at the port of Norfolk and only the second time nation wide.

Another stinkbug, Eysarcoris ventralis, was intercepted for the first time in 2 years in the Mid‐Atlantic and only the second time by Norfolk CBP (first Nov. 2008).

The snail Xerotricha conspurcata was intercepted in the Mid‐Atlantic region 76 times in

2013 (41 Baltimore, 35 Norfolk).