- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That would include the larvae of Tuta absoluta, a South American tomato leafminer. In its adult stage, it's a moth in the family Gelechilidae. In its larval stage, it's a major agricultural pest.
Since 2008, it has invaded much of Europe, northern Africa, and the Middle East, according to a California Department of Food and Agriculture post.
It hasn't yet invaded the United States, but scientists say it has moved from South America as far north as Costa Rica.
The bug "is a serious and devastating pest of tomatoes, causing crop losses as high as 80 to 100% in areas where it is found," according to a Pest Alert article published by the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program. "This insect bores into leaves, stems, flowers, and fruit, often leaving the fruit unmarketable and altering plant growth structure through destruction of stem apical buds or flower buds. To manage this insect, growers may be forced to greatly increase the number of insecticide applications to their tomato crops."
The article, by UC Davis scientists Kris Godfrey of the Contained Research Facility, and Frank Zalom and Joanna Chiu, both of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, points out that the "South American tomato leafminer spreads via commercial trade of plants and fruit infested with eggs, larvae, and pupae. The adult moths can fly, but it is not known if this movement contributes significantly to its spread. There are numerous regulations in place that should limit the spread of the South American tomato leafminer in imported commercial tomato plants and fruit. However, movement of fruit and plants by private individuals is not as strongly regulated."
Enter Kyle Lewald, a doctoral candidate in the laboratory of UC Davis molecular geneticist/physiologist Joanna Chiu. He will present his exit seminar on "Using Genomic Data to Understand and Prevent the Spread of Tuta absoluta" at 4:10 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 22 in 122 Briggs and also on Zoom. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.
Chiu, professor and vice chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will introduce him.
"Tuta absoluta is a serious agricultural pest of tomato plants," Lewald says in his abstract. "While initially discovered in Peru, it has rapidly invaded tomato fields around the world over the past century, causing widespread damage to the industry. The recent affordability of whole genome sequencing of insects opens the door to a wide number of applications to understand and control this pest."
"Using long read sequencing, we produced and annotated a highly contiguous T. absoluta genome assembly," Lewald noted. "Sequencing of individuals collected across many locations in Latin America allowed us to investigate population structure and diversity levels, as well as identify divergence times and possible migration events occurring between regions. Understanding these historical events can be key to predicting and preventing future invasion events. We also used comparative genomics between morphologically similar gelechiid species to develop efficient molecular diagnostics, allowing field researchers and stakeholders to identify Tuta absoluta rapidly to support quarantine and treatment efforts."
Lewald, who holds a bachelor's degree in molecular and cell biology (2016) from UC Berkeley joined the Chiu lab in 2018.
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's winter seminars are held on Wednesdays at 4:10 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall. All are virtual. Urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, assistant professor, coordinates the seminars. (See schedule.) She may be reached at ekmeineke@ucdavis.edu for technical issues.
![Larvae of Tuta absoluta, a South American tomato leafminer, damaging a tomato leaf. (Photo courtesy of A. Mussoll) Larvae of Tuta absoluta, a South American tomato leafminer, damaging a tomato leaf. (Photo courtesy of A. Mussoll)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/97787.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's a crazy world out there.
Now our beleaguered honey bee has a new foe: the Rasberry crazy ant, Paratrechina sp. nr. pubens.
The Rasberry crazy ant is driving Texans crazy.
A UC Davis entomologist sent me an Associated Press news story about how these crazy ants are wreaking havoc in Houston and are now spreading to about a dozen counties in the Lone Star State.
Some facts:
First, this ant, about the size of a grain of rice, is named for an exterminator named Tom Rasberry who spotted the exotic, invasive pest near Houston in 2002 and sounded the alarm.
Second, these ants are considered "crazy" because they don't march like well-disciplined soldiers in a parade but weave erratically like equally crazy cockroaches.
Third, they eat honey bees, which already have enough trouble dealing with colony collapse disorder, pests, diseases, pesticides, stress, malnutrition and global climate changes.
Honey bees need a crazy ant like they need a hole in their antenna or a mite on their thorax.
Entomologists at Texas A&M just posted an informational Web site about the pest, which they describe as "1/8 inch long and reddish-brown."
And with a big appetite.
Fact is, these hordes of crazy ants are ruining electronic equipment--like computers, I-Pods, printers, telephones and burglar alarms--and are damaging sewage pumps and gas and electricity meters. They basically consume just about everything in sight--from the unwanted red fire ants to the beneficial ladybugs and honey bees.
Today the ant is being considered "a serious agricultural pest" because it's encroaching on "livestock, hay bales and a few honey bee farms," according to Associated Press writer Linda Stewart Ball in her piece published Aug. 5.
The Texas Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture want to declare the crazy an "agricultural pest," something they must first do to seek research funds.
"If killing honey bees does not put it in the ag pest category," Rasberry told the Associated Press writer Linda Stewart Ball in her Aug. 5 piece, "I don't know what does."
Where did it come from?
Perhaps from the Caribbean. It could have hitchiked a ride on a cargo ship. At any rate, it's here and spreading by billions and it's not going away. You'll want to read Tom Rasberry's blog about the crazy ants.
Houston, they have a problem.
And so may we.
![THIS HONEY BEE, sipping water from a leaf, is safe and secure--but not if hordes of Rasberry crazy ants find her. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) THIS HONEY BEE, sipping water from a leaf, is safe and secure--but not if hordes of Rasberry crazy ants find her. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/2216.jpg)
![THIS PHOTO, posted on Tom Rasberry's blog at http://crazyrasberryants.blogspot.com/, shows Rasberry crazy ants killing honey bees. THIS PHOTO, posted on Tom Rasberry's blog at http://crazyrasberryants.blogspot.com/, shows Rasberry crazy ants killing honey bees.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/2217.jpg)
![RASBERRY CRAZY ANTS invading a bee hive and killing ants. (Photo from Tom Rasberry's blog at http://crazyrasberryants.blogspot.com/.) RASBERRY CRAZY ANTS invading a bee hive and killing ants. (Photo from Tom Rasberry's blog at http://crazyrasberryants.blogspot.com/.)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/2218.jpg)