The Board of Agriculture, Fishing, Water and Rural Development confirmed on the 17th of last month the presence of an invasive species of beetle in Motril, affecting avocado trees.
The said species is the Euwallacea fornicatus, known in Spanish as the Barrenillo del Te, or in English, the tea shot-hole borer, or polyphagous shot-hole borer (PSHB). Others have been known to call it, “that little fornicatus.”
The tea shot-hole borer has been known to cause devastating damage to tea bushes in at least ten countries, including India and Sri Lanka where it is a major economic pest.
Since 2007, specimens were found in Florida on avocado trees and then in 2012 in Californian avocado trees. Now it is on the Costa Tropical.
They are considered vectors (spreaders) of a new, fungal-plant pathogen in avocado trees which can kill them if not effectively treated.
According to the Head of the Agriculture, Parks and Gardens Department at Motril Town Hall, Joaquín Bustos, the pest has been found in three avocado plantations within the municipality.
Two of the plantations are in the north of Motril, near the Barrio de Las Angustias, whilst the third is an abandoned plantation where the trees are badly infected. The farmer has since cut them down and burnt the branches to stop it spreading.
Department Head Joaquín Bustos explained that these beetles go for weakened trees as they are easier to attack. For this reason, he pointed out that it’s essential for fruit farmers to keep an eye on sickly trees and to communicate its presence or anything suspicious, immediately to his department, which will inform the Junta and biologists will be sent.
So far, the Town Hall has installed 30 beetle traps around the municipality to monitor the situation, and there are another ten early warning traps scattered between Motril and the Málaga border.
As for what they look like, adult females range between 1.9 and 2.5 mm long. They are bulky, dark brown or black and the frontal edge of the pronotum (a prominent plate-like structure that covers all or part of the thorax of some insects) has a row of saw-like projections.
(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)
keywords: Beetle, Fornicatus, Avocado Trees, Fungus, Plague, Plantations, Parks & Gardens, Tea Hole Borer
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