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Fieberiella florii (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha) as a Vector of “Candidatus Phytoplasma mali”

Laboratory trials were carried out to transmit “Candidatus Phytoplasma mali” to healthy apple seedlings with the leafhopper Fieberiella florii. Experiments on serial inoculation access period and molecular analyses performed on test plants and insects confirmed the ability of the leaf-hopper to carry and transmit the phytoplasma. Field surveys by means of yellow sticky traps were conducted in northwestern Italy to verify the abundance and the natural infectivity of F. florii in apple orchards and in wild vegetation in areas surrounding apple orchards. Despite the high percentages of infected specimens obtained in the apple orchards (5.7%) and in the wild vegetation areas (20.0%), the risk of apple tree infection by F. florii in nature is probably low because of the very low insect density recorded. In spite of the low number of specimens collected, the presence of the leafhopper in apple orchards in summer, when the main vector, the psyllid Cacopsylla melanoneura, feeds on alternative hosts, is meaningful. Moreover, the high degree of polyphagy of the leafhopper opens up new interesting prospects for the epidemiology of apple proliferation.