BIOSECURITY ALERT: Serpentine leafminer detected in western Sydney
Friday, 5 November 2020
Serpentine leafminer has been detected infesting field-grown vegetables in western Sydney in October 2020.
These flies in the genus Liriomyza pose significant risk to Australia’s horticulture sector, and growers are urged to be vigilant with monitoring and implement rigorous plant protection protocols to reduce the risk of further infestation.
Current data suggests this leafminer has 365 host plant species from 49 plant families, including vegetables (cucurbits, tomatoes, chillies, brassicas, lettuce, etc), ornamentals (gerberas, roses, dahlia, chrysanthemums, petunias, violas, etc) and many common weed species.
Plants damaged by this pest commonly suffer reduced yield and growth, and in some cases are completely destroyed.
Serpentine leafminer is widely distributed across the Americas, Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe, and has shown that it’s able to quickly develop insecticide resistance, making it difficult to control.