A holistic approach to future management of grapevine phylloxera

Abstract

Grapevine phylloxera, Daktulosphaira vitifoliae (Fitch), belongs to the Phylloxeridae family. Phylloxerids are a group of gall-forming sap-sucking insects including the minor pests pecan phylloxera (Phylloxera devastratrix Pergande) and pear phylloxera (Aphanostigma piri (Cholodovski)), which live on deciduous trees and perennial fruit crops (Powell 2008) and are related to the superfamily Aphidioidea. Grapevine phylloxera, the main economically important phylloxerid, is monophagous to Vitis spp. (Vitaceae) and is widely recognized as the most significant insect pest of commercial European grapevines, Vitis vinifera L. Grapevine phylloxera was first described in 1855 on native Vitis spp. (Granett et al. 2001a) but its devastating effect on V. vinifera was not recognized until the accidental introduction of this pest to Europe in the early 1860s. After the widely reported economic impact on the European wine industry (Ordish 1972) and removal of over two million ha of grapevines (Jackson 2008), it spread to South Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Australasia later in the nineteenth century (Boehm 1996; Campbell 2004).