The Cassava Shoot Fly, Neosilba Perezi (Romero And Ruppel)

Neosilba perezi (Romero and Ruppel) is a pest of Manihot esculenta Crantz, which is known as cassava, manioc, and yuca (not yucca). This lonchaeid was described originally in the genus Silba (Romero and Ruppel, 1973) but is now placed in the genus Neosilba based on the work of McAlpine (1962). It was reported first in the United States at Miami, Florida, in 1973 (DPI) when larvae were found feeding in the terminal shoots of cassava.

It was well established and probably had been introduced into Florida (source unknown) in the 1960’s when many Cubans settled in the Miami area and began planting cassava. The laterally branching roots of cassava are a staple food of many Latin Americans, and this plant is grown extensively throughout much of the West Indies, Central, and South America. It requires less care than most other crops, less fertilizer, less fungicides, less insecticides. At present there are 400-500 acres of cassava (fig. 1) grown commercially in southern Florida, and this can be expected to continue to increase gradually.