A New Detection of the Invasive Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) From Georgia in the United States Based on Morphological and Molecular Data

Abstract

The Mexican rice borer, Eoreuma loftini (Dyar), is an invasive herbivore that attacks many gramineous host plants. The species is an economic pest of several grass crops in North America including sugarcane (Saccharum spp.), rice (Oryza sativa), corn (Zea mays), and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor). The species was first detected in the United States in 1980 and has since expanded its range eastward along the Gulf Coast reaching Louisiana in 2008. A disjointed introduction was detected in Florida in 2012, though range expansion of this population within the state has been limited. Most recently, a separate introduction was detected along the Atlantic coast of Georgia near the South Carolina border (32.19884° N, 81.35894° W). Larvae were collected from sugarcane in 2020 and 2021 and identified as E. loftini. The identification was confirmed with genetic analysis showing >99% similarity with most mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) sequences of known E. loftini. This is the furthest north and east of any established population in North America. Potential routes of introduction and impacts to crop production along the U.S. Atlantic Coast are discussed.

Rasgos agroindustriales de variedades de caña de azúcar

“…Se considera que Diatrea spp. es la plaga más importante de la caña de azúcar (Echeverri-Rubiano et al, 2017;Kang et al, 2022). No obstante, en la región de Las Huastecas, se ha observado que E. loftini (Dyar) es la principal plaga que afecta al cultivo de caña, mientras que las poblaciones de D. magnifactella representan aproximadamente el 5 %.…”

Plant Health Newsletter on Horizon Scanning – June 2022

“…This pest can induce stem damage on plants, which subsequently break or fall during harvesting, resulting in yield or quality loss and even plant death (Browning et al, 1989 17 ). The expected yield loss on rice is estimated up to 15% (Kang et al, 2022 18 ). The pest was included in the PeMoScoring exercise and scored positive.…”

Characterization of Resistance to the Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) among Sugarcane Cultivars

“…Since 2008, E. loftini has been spreading northward and eastward into Louisiana’s sugarcane and rice production regions, with infestations becoming more frequent in recent years [ 8 , 9 ]. More recently, E. loftini has become established in Florida and Georgia, where it also threatens the production of grass crops (i.e., sugarcane, corn, and sorghum) [ 10 ].…”