Tiny bugs that spread deadly olive disease tracked through the seasons
Invasive Species
If you grow olives, grapes, or almonds, these small hopping insects picking up bacteria from roadside grasses and carrying it into your orchard could be the difference between a healthy harvest and a dead tree.
There's a tiny jumping insect called a spittlebug that can carry a bacterial disease deadly to olive trees, grapevines, and other plants. Researchers in Morocco watched where these bugs live and breed throughout the year, finding they start out on grasses and weeds before moving onto trees and shrubs as they grow up. Knowing this timing helps farmers know exactly when to watch out and act before the insects can spread disease to valuable crops.
Key Findings
Neophilaenus spittlebug populations showed distinct seasonal peaks, with nymphs concentrated on grasses in spring before adults dispersed to woody hosts
Host-plant colonization shifted over the season, moving insects from herbaceous ground cover toward trees and shrubs including likely crop hosts
Phenology data identified windows when vector populations are highest, informing timing for Xylella fastidiosa monitoring and control programs
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists tracked spittlebug insects in Morocco that can carry Xylella fastidiosa, a bacterium that kills olive trees and other crops, mapping when and where these insects are most active so farmers can better time control efforts.
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The olive is a species of subtropical evergreen tree in the family Oleaceae. Originating in Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean Basin, with wild subspecies in Africa and western Asia; modern cultivars are traced primarily to the Near East, Aegean Sea, and Strait of Gibraltar. ...