The potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae): life history, relationship to plant diseases, and management strategies.

Abstract

The potato/tomato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae) has been a major pest of solanaceous crops for decades. This pest can cause damage to crop plants by direct feeding and, as has been recently discovered, by transmitting the bacterial pathogen Candidatus Liberibacter psyllaurous (a.k.a. Ca. L. solanacearum). Many studies have been conducted to determine the relationship of this pest to plant injury and to develop management strategies to alleviate the damage caused by this pest in a wide variety of solanaceous plants. Studies in the past decade have documented substantial genetic variability in this invasive species, enhanced our rapidly-evolving understanding of the interactions between the insect and the pathogen it carries, and improved our appreciation of the invasive potential of the pest. This review seeks to provide a comprehensive update to B. cockerelli life history, relationship to plant diseases, and the current state of management strategies against B. cockerelli.