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1/8/2009 9:38:00 AM

Asian citrus psyllid invades herb shipments
Pest found on plant material not listed as a host

Cecilia Parsons - Capital Press

Asian citrus psyllids, exotic pests that can carry a deadly citrus disease, were found in three herb shipments that arrived at California airports in December.

Two of the shipments arrived at the San Francisco airport and one at Los Angeles International. Inside boxes of Malungai leaves from Hawaii, federal inspectors found live psyllids. This is the first time ACP has been found in a shipment of plant material not listed as a host for the pest, according to Larry Hawkins, spokesman for the USDA.

The shipments were destroyed.

Psyllids were previously found in shipments of curry leaves, which are listed as a host plant. In 2008, shipments of curry leaves from Hawaii were suspended for several months until a fumigation protocol was put in place.

Host plants for ACP must be inspected upon arrival in California, and there is also some level of inspection in Hawaii, said Hawkins. The USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service will be doing tracebacks on prior shipments to determine the possibility that they also harbored the pest.

The Asian citrus psyllid can carry bacteria that cause the citrus greening disease, which is also known as Huanglongbing. The pest has been found in California near the Mexican border and has also been trapped in Mexico.

None of the pests trapped to date have carried the citrus greening bacteria, and Hawkins said HLB is not present in Hawaii.

Asian citrus psyllids are common in Southeast Asia countries and Hawaii. They were first found in the U.S. in 1998 in Florida and have since become established. Florida also has the citrus greening virus and has lost millions of trees to the disease. California agriculture officials and citrus industry leaders have been focusing their efforts on detection of the pest and limiting its spread.

Ted Batkin, president of Citrus Research Board, said with the finds the first action will be determining if the Malungai is a host for ACP or if the pest was just a hitchhiker and moved into the shipment from another infested shipment.

"We've got a lot of questions right now and have to find some answers," said Batkin about the latest ACP finds.

State trappers continue to find ACP in the quarantined areas of San Diego County. The good news is that the pest is not pushing out of those areas. Batkin said additional finds are expected when weather warms in the spring.

Cecilia Parsons is a staff writer based in Ducor. E-mail: cparsons@capitalpress.com.