DPI's Bureau of Entomology, Nematology and Plant Pathology (the botany section is included in this bureau) produces TRI-OLOGY six times a year, covering two months of activity in each issue. The report includes detection activities from nursery plant inspections, routine and emergency program surveys, and requests for identification of plants and pests from the public. Samples are also occasionally sent from other states or countries for identification or diagnosis.
Section Reports
Our Mission…getting it done
The mission of the Division of Plant Industry is to protect Florida’s native and commercially grown plants and the State’s apiary industry from harmful pests and diseases. To carry out that mission, our five bureaus employ scientists, environmental specialists, agricultural and laboratory technicians along with administrative and support staff. Perhaps you’d be interested in some of the things we do to protect our state from pest plants and animals.
For example, how do we control potential pests that might enter the state?
Anyone who ships commercial nursery stock into Florida must be registered with the originating state, each separate container of stock must have a certificate of inspection, and all shipments of nursery stock entering peninsular Florida by road are required to stop at an agricultural inspection station. The inspections focus on plants and plant products or anything else that might carry plant pests. If the material is found to be infested or infected with a plant pest, noxious weed or arthropod, the material can be treated, refused entry or destroyed.
Of course, the risk of importing pests with any nursery stock requires us to control commercial shipments into the state, but in addition, plants coming into the state with new residents or visitors might also contain pests. Plants coming into Florida in a passenger's baggage or included in household effects must have a valid certificate of inspection. Recently, our plant inspection team has begun a program to assist in these agricultural inspections to better coordinate the process. You might see some examples of pests detected from those inspections in Tri-ology.
We welcome your comments and suggestions for improvement on the new format of TRI-OLOGY. Please feel free to contact me or Dr. Patti Anderson and let us know.
Wayne N. Dixon, Ph.D., editor
Assistant Director, DPI
Highlights
Following are a few of the notable entries from this volume of TRI-OLOGY. These entries are reports of interesting plants or unusual pests, some of which may be problematic. See Section Reports for complete information.
Colpoptera sp. (an issid planthopper), a new Continental USA record for the genus, was detected in Florida for the first time on January 4, 2010, in a Multi-Lure trap. The Florida specimen more closely resembles Mexican species of Colpoptera than Caribbean ones, but it might be an undescribed species.
Nipaecoccus viridis (Lebbeck mealybug)
Photograph courtesy of Lyle J. Buss, University of Florida
Nipaecoccus viridis (the Lebbeck mealybug), a new record for the Western Hemisphere, was collected on dodder (Cuscuta exaltata) in November 2009 by CAPS surveyors working in the Rosemary Scrub Natural Area in Palm Beach County. This species has been intercepted at United States ports of entry on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, but its establishment in a natural area away from a port is currently unexplained. See the DPI Pest Alert.
Mikania micrantha (climbing hempweed, mile-a-minute vine)
Photograph courtesy of Patti J. Anderson, DPI
Septoria mikania-micranthae, a new Northern Hemisphere record, was previously known only from Brazil, and is considered a potential biocontrol pathogen. It was found on the invasive vine, Mikania micrantha, a noxious weed that was recently detected in Miami-Dade County, also for the first time in this country. The sexual stage of this pathogen (Mycosphaerella mikania-micranthae) has not been detected on Florida material so far. There are only two Septoria spp. on Mikania now reported in the United States, and this one is the only Septoria on Mikania reported from Florida.
Lilium catesbaei (Catesby’s lily, pine lily), a spectacular wildflower, with among the largest flowers of any indigenous North American monocot, was collected in Lee County. It is native to wet pine flatwoods and savannahs, especially in pitcher plant bogs, in the Coastal Plain from Virginia to Louisiana. It is found throughout Florida, but is less common in the extreme south and is absent from the Keys. The flowers are as much as 10 cm across and are made up of six similar tepals. They are mostly scarlet with a purple-spotted yellow blotch at the base. The six stamens are held stiffly erect. This beautiful plant is not yet rare in Florida, but it is declining and is on Florida’s list of threatened plants.
Opuntia humifusa (pricklypear cactus) infected by Meloidogyne mayaguensis
Photograph courtesy of Darlene J. George-Hill, DPI
Meloidogyne mayaguensis, the Guava root-knot nematode, infects weed plants as well as agronomic and horticultural crops. This root-knot nematode has been found to reproduce on 13 weed species worldwide and has been reported in Africa, Asia, South America, Central America, North America and the Caribbean region. In North America, it is known to occur only in Florida. Infected plants exhibit root galling, which is the major symptom induced by this nematode species. Weeds can serve as a major reservoir of root-knot nematodes not only in the field, but also in nurseries, and should be included in nematode management programs.
Acknowledgements:
The editors would like to acknowledge the work of all those who contributed information and explanations by providing data, photographs or text and by carefully reading early drafts. We also thank Scott Weinberg for his skillful use of web authoring tools to produce this report.
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry
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