Platyobria biemani (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Aphalaridae), a new introduction into Israel and a potential pest of eucalypts

Abstract

Five (3♀, 2♂) adult psyllids were collected the end of April, 2015 from Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. (Myrtaceae) at Tzapari Bird Park in Tel Aviv, Israel. They are identified as Platyobria biemani Burckhardt, Queiroz & Malenovský, 2014 a presumed Australian species which has been previously known only from the type locality on the island of Lesbos, Greece (Burckhardt et al. 2014). Platyobria be­ longs to the Spondyliaspidinae, a rich and diversified sub family mostly restricted to Australia that lives on the Myrtaceae, in particular Eucalyptus spp. (Hollis 2004). Several spondyliaspidines have been introduced to other continents, where some of them have become serious eucalypt pests (Quei roz et al. 2012). Most of these introductions are relatively recent and their spread is usually rapid. This is particularly well documented for South America where no eucalypt psyllids were known before 1990. In the second half of the 1990s, three species (Blastopsylla occidentalis Taylor, Ctenarytaina eucalypti (Maskell) and C. spatulata Taylor) ap peared almost simultaneously (Burckhardt et al. 1999). A few years later a fourth species (Glycaspis brimblecombei Moore) was found in Chile (Sandoval & Rothmann 2002) and it quickly spread over the con tinent (Queiroz et al. 2013).