Description of an Australian endemic species of Trioza (Hemiptera: Triozidae) pest of the endemic tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Myrtaceae).

Psyllids, also known as jumping plant lice, are phloem feeding Hemiptera that often show a strict species-specific relationship with their host plants. When psyllid-plant associations involve economically important crops, this may lead to the recognition of a psyllid species as an agricultural or ho...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Francesco Martoni, Mark J Blacket
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2021-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257031
_version_ 1818742721372749824
author Francesco Martoni
Mark J Blacket
author_facet Francesco Martoni
Mark J Blacket
author_sort Francesco Martoni
collection DOAJ
description Psyllids, also known as jumping plant lice, are phloem feeding Hemiptera that often show a strict species-specific relationship with their host plants. When psyllid-plant associations involve economically important crops, this may lead to the recognition of a psyllid species as an agricultural or horticultural pest. The Australian endemic tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Maiden & Betche) Cheel., has been used for more than a century to extract essential oils and, long before that, as a traditional medicine by Indigenous Australian people. Recently, a triozid species has been found to damage the new growth of tea trees both in Queensland and New South Wales, raising interest around this previously undocumented pest. Furthermore, adults of the same species were also collected from Citrus plantations, leading to potential false-positive records of the exotic pest Trioza erytreae (Del Guercio 1918), the African Citrus psyllid. Here we describe for the first time Trioza melaleucae Martoni sp. nov. providing information on its distribution, host plant associations and phylogenetic relationships to other Trioza species. This work enables both morphological and molecular identification of this new species, allowing it to be recognized and distinguished for the first time from exotic pests as well as other Australian native psyllids. Furthermore, the haplotype network analysis presented here suggests a close relationship between Trioza melaleucae and the other Myrtaceae-feeding Trioza spp. from Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan.
first_indexed 2024-12-18T02:17:01Z
format Article
id doaj.art-69a42f2334494061b23357a598d78904
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1932-6203
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-18T02:17:01Z
publishDate 2021-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj.art-69a42f2334494061b23357a598d789042022-12-21T21:24:21ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032021-01-01169e025703110.1371/journal.pone.0257031Description of an Australian endemic species of Trioza (Hemiptera: Triozidae) pest of the endemic tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Myrtaceae).Francesco MartoniMark J BlacketPsyllids, also known as jumping plant lice, are phloem feeding Hemiptera that often show a strict species-specific relationship with their host plants. When psyllid-plant associations involve economically important crops, this may lead to the recognition of a psyllid species as an agricultural or horticultural pest. The Australian endemic tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Maiden & Betche) Cheel., has been used for more than a century to extract essential oils and, long before that, as a traditional medicine by Indigenous Australian people. Recently, a triozid species has been found to damage the new growth of tea trees both in Queensland and New South Wales, raising interest around this previously undocumented pest. Furthermore, adults of the same species were also collected from Citrus plantations, leading to potential false-positive records of the exotic pest Trioza erytreae (Del Guercio 1918), the African Citrus psyllid. Here we describe for the first time Trioza melaleucae Martoni sp. nov. providing information on its distribution, host plant associations and phylogenetic relationships to other Trioza species. This work enables both morphological and molecular identification of this new species, allowing it to be recognized and distinguished for the first time from exotic pests as well as other Australian native psyllids. Furthermore, the haplotype network analysis presented here suggests a close relationship between Trioza melaleucae and the other Myrtaceae-feeding Trioza spp. from Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257031
spellingShingle Francesco Martoni
Mark J Blacket
Description of an Australian endemic species of Trioza (Hemiptera: Triozidae) pest of the endemic tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Myrtaceae).
PLoS ONE
title Description of an Australian endemic species of Trioza (Hemiptera: Triozidae) pest of the endemic tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Myrtaceae).
title_full Description of an Australian endemic species of Trioza (Hemiptera: Triozidae) pest of the endemic tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Myrtaceae).
title_fullStr Description of an Australian endemic species of Trioza (Hemiptera: Triozidae) pest of the endemic tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Myrtaceae).
title_full_unstemmed Description of an Australian endemic species of Trioza (Hemiptera: Triozidae) pest of the endemic tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Myrtaceae).
title_short Description of an Australian endemic species of Trioza (Hemiptera: Triozidae) pest of the endemic tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia (Myrtaceae).
title_sort description of an australian endemic species of trioza hemiptera triozidae pest of the endemic tea tree melaleuca alternifolia myrtaceae
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257031
work_keys_str_mv AT francescomartoni descriptionofanaustralianendemicspeciesoftriozahemipteratriozidaepestoftheendemicteatreemelaleucaalternifoliamyrtaceae
AT markjblacket descriptionofanaustralianendemicspeciesoftriozahemipteratriozidaepestoftheendemicteatreemelaleucaalternifoliamyrtaceae