First detection ofBursaphelenchus abietinusandB. andrassyiin Italy

Abstract

During the annual monitoring surveys for the pinewood nematodes,Bursaphelenchus xylophilus,conducted in the Tuscany region (Central Italy) from the year 2015 to 2019, a total of 1,025 wood samples were collected from symptomatic plants in coniferous forests. Among the eightBursaphelenchusspecies found,Bursaphelenchus abietinusandB. andrassyiwere identified through morphological and molecular analysis and recorded for the first time in Italy. Additionally, new associations betweenBursaphelenchusspecies and the host plants or insect vectors have been reported. The generalized linear models performed to investigate the possible relation between the level of coniferous plant decay and the occurrence ofBursaphelenchusnematodes highlighted that the probability of theBursaphelenchuspresence in the samples increased with the degeneration of the phytosanitary state of the tree, the presence of blue stain fungi and different types of insects.

Nematodes in the Pine Forests of Northern and Central Greece

“…In contrast, B. leoni is recognized as a typical Mediterranean species, based on their dispersal and frequency, although they have also been occasionally found in Central Europe [68]. Finally, B. hellenicus exhibits the most limited natural range, which contains only two other countries, namely Italy [72] and Turkey [73] besides Greece [32,74]. Additionally, in terms of pathogenicity, B. mucronatus, B. vallesianus, and B. sexdentati have been characterized to be highly pathogenic [36,75,76] although such findings have not been confirmed under natural forest stand conditions [77], and the expression of virulence could also be dependent on host susceptibility as shown by Carropo et al [78].…”

“…Most of the aforementioned Bursaphelenchus species have also been documented in Greece's neighboring and surrounding countries (Table 2). For example, in addition to B. leoni and B. sexdentati, B. idius Rühm 1956 have also been recovered from weakened trees in Cyprus [79,80] [72,[85][86][87][88] besides the ones already known in Greece [72,89], something that needs particular attention given the strong commercial relationships.…”

Composition and Diversity of the Endobacteria and Ectobacteria of the Invasive Bark Beetle Hylurgus ligniperda (Fabricius) (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in Newly Colonized Areas

“…For example, Leptographium Procerum (Ophiostomatales, Ascomycota), isolated from H. ligniperda in New Zealand, has been reported in China to have assisted the Dendroctonus valens (LeConte) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in killing millions of pine trees [19]. In Europe and Northern Africa, the beetle is the nematode vector of the genus Bursaphelenchus, such as B. hellenicus, B. sexdentati, and B. tusciae [20][21][22]. As highlighted, the limited studies on the associations of H. ligniperda are much related to fungi and nematodes, but little is known about its bacterial associates and functions.…”