Scientific Opinion on the pest categorisation of Scirtothrips dorsalis

Abstract

The EFSA Panel on Plant Health undertook a pest categorisation for the insect Scirtothrips dorsalis for the European Union. Although there are reports that this is a species complex and there are host-specific races, it is generally treated as a distinct taxon. Both morphological and molecular methods are required to confirm identification. Apart from one long-term outbreak in a botanic garden glasshouse in England, it is absent from the EU. Native to southern and eastern Asia, this species has been introduced to tropical and subtropical areas of Africa, Australasia and the Americas in recent years. It is highly polyphagous, with over 225 known hosts, which include many important EU crops. Southern areas of the EU are potentially suitable for outdoor establishment and it could establish in protected cultivation throughout the EU. Based on its phenology, the Panel showed that the climate in southern Europe could allow a similar number of generations to develop as in Japan and South Korea, where significant damage occurs to citrus and other crops outdoors. In protected cultivation, even though control methods used against other thrips species may be effective in keeping populations at low densities, damage can still occur at these densities owing to the transmission of tospoviruses. Despite being highly polyphagous, S. dorsalis is an insect listed in Annex IIAI of Council Directive 2000/29/EC only in relation to Citrus, Fortunella and Poncirus plants. These hosts are also regulated in Annex III and Annex V. They are also explicitly mentioned in Council Directive 2008/90/EC.

Commodity risk assessment of Persea americana from Israel

“…The pest cannot overwinter, if the temperature remains below -4°C for five or more days (Nietschke et al, 2008). Adults fly actively for short distances and passively on wind currents, which enables long-distance spread (EFSA PLH Panel, 2014).…”

“…Given the high polyphagy of both pests, many wild plant species can serve as a reservoir for dispersal to cultivated plants (Seal et al, 2010). The availability of the host plants significantly increases the success of dispersal (EFSA PLH Panel, 2014).…”

Discovery of Scirtothrips dorsalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in Blueberry Fields of Michoacan, Mexico

“…At present it has been recorded in numerous countries across 5 continents (Kumar et al 2013). Scirtothrips dorsalis is a pest of great economic importance worldwide that is recorded from more than 225 species of plants in 72 families (Kumar et al 2013;EFSA 2014), and is one of the 14 species of Thysanoptera known to transmit tospoviruses to cultivated plants (Riley et al 2011;Rotenberg et al 2015). Although S. dorsalis had been reported in countries of the Caribbean, and North and South America (Kumar et al 2013;Dias-Pini et al 2018, Ravelo et al 2018, there were no records of its presence in Mexico.…”

Pest survey card on Scirtothrips aurantii, Scirtothrips citri and Scirtothrips dorsalis

“…to spread naturally is relatively limited (EFSA PLH Panel, 2014, 2018a. to spread naturally is relatively limited (EFSA PLH Panel, 2014, 2018a.…”

“…The potential for Scirtothrips spp. to spread naturally is relatively limited (EFSA PLH Panel, 2014, 2018a. Adults fly actively when the population density peaks in each period (Masui, 2007), but they do not move long distances between hosts and most likely disperse passively downwind.…”