Pest survey card on palm lethal yellowing phytoplasmas and their vector Haplaxius crudus

© European Food Safety Authority, 2025.

The updated pest survey card for palm lethal yellowing phytoplasmas and their vector Haplaxius crudus is published and available online in the EFSA Pest Survey Card gallery at the following link: https://efsa.europa.eu/plants/planthealth/monitoring/surveillance/palm-phytoplasmas-haplaxius-crudus.

Requestor: European Commission Question numbers: EFSA-Q-2024-00158, EFSA-Q-2024-00159

This pest survey card was prepared in the context of the EFSA mandate on plant pest surveillance (M-2020-0114), at the request of the European Commission. Its purpose is to guide the Member States in preparing data and information for palm lethal yellowing phytoplasmas and their vector Haplaxius crudus (syn. Myndus crudus) surveys. These are required to design statistically sound and risk-based pest surveys, in line with current international standards. Palm lethal yellowing phytoplasmas and their vector H. crudus are Union quarantine pests. The current distribution of phytoplasmas is limited to the Americas, Africa and Oceania and the only confirmed vector of them, H. crudus, is present in the Americas. None of the described phytoplasmas, and their vector are known to occur in the EU. Both pests target palms, while the planthopper nymphs of H. crudus feed on the roots of grasses and sedges. Human-assisted spread through the international movement of plant material is considered the most important factor in their long-distance dispersal and potential introduction in the EU. Should the above-mentioned phytoplasmas and their vector become present, they could become established in small areas in southern EU and EU Macaronesian archipelagos, with palm species as the primary hosts in the EU. Detection surveys in the EU should target palm trees showing symptoms of phytoplasma infection and should include a visual examination of the underside of palm leaves for the presence of insect vectors. Delimiting surveys should include all known host plants. The phytoplasmas have to be confirmed by processing the samples, ideally symptomatic palm leaves, using available molecular methods. The insect can be collected on host plants or trapped with coloured sticky traps and by sweet-netting and identified morphologically. In areas where host plants are present, detection surveys can be conducted all year round, preferably in spring and summer.

EFSA wishes to thank the following for the support provided to this scientific output: Maja Pintar, Ivana Krizanac and Luka Mustapic of the Croatian Agency for Food and agriculture (CAAF, Croatia) in the context of the grant GP/EFSA/PLANTS/2022/10 - Lot 4, ISA expert Giulia Mattion (in the context of contract EOI/EFSA/2022/01) for the preparation, Jaime Cubero Dabrio and Josep Anton Jaques Miret for the review, and ISA expert Alicia Culot (in the context of contract EOI/EFSA/2022/01) for finalisation and publication of this survey card

Peer reviewed