Eucalyptus gall wasp, Leptocybe invasa Fisher & La Salle

Eucalyptus is used both as an ornamental and commercial tree. Its plantations are a major source of timber, firewood and mulch, and create areas for honeybee foraging. It is used in recreational areas, as shelterbelts from drifting sands, and as wind breaks surrounding cultivated and residential areas all over the world, including Florida. (Mendel et al. 2004; Wiley and Skelley 2008; Gaskill et al. 2009). In Florida, eucalyptus is the most commonly used tree for wind breaks in citrus groves, and is used extensively throughout the state’s 500,000 acres of commercial citrus.

A new emerging pest of eucalyptus, Leptocybe invasa Fisher & La Salle, was first found in Italy, but mistakenly identified as Aprostocetus sp. (Viggiani et al. 2001). This was followed by another report of an infestation from Turkey in early 2000 (Aytar 2003). The first formal description of this insect came in 2004 from Australia as L. invasa (Fisher and Lasalle 2004) and is now considered likely native to Australia (Mendel et al. 2004).

Within the past decade it has become established in at least 38 countries from the Mediterranean Basin (France, Italy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and Malta), Europe (U.K.), Middle East Asia (Israel, Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Syria) Sub Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda), northern Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco), southern Africa (South Africa and Zimbabwe), eastern Asia (China), southern Asia (India and Sri Lanka), southeastern Asia (Laos, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam), Oceania (Australia), South America (Argentina, Brazil and Chile), and North America (USA) (Fig. 1). See Table 1. for references. In Florida, L. invasa was found for the first time in Broward County in 2008 (Wiley and Skelley 2008) and has since been reported from at least 11 counties with the distribution expanding northward (Fig. 2).