Tomato potato psyllid: more lessons

Abstract

The tomato potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc, 1909) (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Triozidae) was recognised in an Auckland greenhouse tomato crop after circulation of a draft pictorial guide of potential invaders. The reluctance to report the discovery and subsequent misinformation about the host range of the insect emphasise the importance of two lessons. One is that people working with a crop need to have readily available comprehensive information about the associated diseases, pests and disorders present in New Zealand and those not present, but which could be recognised. Ideally these should be multi-entry computer-based systems with good photographs. The second is that researchers and others need to have a clear understanding of the term 'host association', and whether it is relating to herbivores and host plants, parasitoids and hosts, or predators and prey.