Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC
agreement with Springer Nature. The authors are grateful to the European
Union grant, programme H2020 entitled: PRE-HLB: Preventing
HLB epidemics for ensuring citrus survival in Europe. H2020-
SFS-2018–2 Topic SFS-05–2018-2019–2020—new and emerging
risks to plant health (Project nº 817526) as well as to the Foundation
for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by
national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020).
Trioza erytreae, the African citrus psyllid, is a vector of Candidatus Liberibacter spp., the causal agent of the citrus greening
disease or Huanglongbing (HLB). The spread of the vector throughout the Iberian Peninsula has been continuous since its
introduction in mainland Spain in 2014. The patterns of host preference and feeding behaviour largely depend on olfactory
cues. Understanding these patterns is crucial to prevent further dispersion and develop management measures against the
pest. In this work, a series of settlement, olfactometric, probing, and feeding experiments were conducted to assess the host
preference of T. erytreae for lemon or bitter orange plants. The settlement experiment provided evidence on the preference
of both sexes of T. erytreae for lemon plants, whereas males did not show any significant choice pattern in the case of the
olfactometric assays. Forty EPG variables were analysed to describe and compare the probing and feeding behaviour of T.
erytreae on lemon and bitter orange plants. The EPG variables indicated that T. erytreae has some difficulties in accepting
the phloem of bitter orange plants. This suggests that lemon plants would be a better source for the acquisition of Candidatus
Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) by T. erytreae since the psyllid spends much longer periods feeding from the phloem on
lemon than on bitter orange.
