Pest specific plant health response plan: Outbreaks of Aromia bungii Fig. 1. Adult Aromia bungii. © Fera Science Ltd. 1 © Crown copyright 2019 You may re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or e-mail: [email protected] This document is also available on our website at: https://planthealthportal.defra.gov.uk/pests-and-diseases/contingency-planning/ Any enquiries regarding this document should be sent to us at: The UK Chief Plant Health Officer Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Room 11G32 National Agri-Food Innovation Campus Sand Hutton York YO41 1LZ Email: [email protected] 2 Contents 1. Introduction and scope ......................................................................................................... 5 2. Summary of threat................................................................................................................. 5 3. Risk assessments ................................................................................................................. 6 4. Actions to prevent outbreaks ............................................................................................... 6 5. Response ............................................................................................................................. 10 Official action to be taken following the suspicion or confirmation of Aromia bungii on imported plants ....................................................................................................................... 10 Official action to be taken following the suspicion of an Aromia bungii outbreak ............ 11 How to survey to determine whether there is an outbreak .............................................. 12 Official Action to be taken following the confirmation of an outbreak ................................ 15 Communication ................................................................................................................... 15 Surveillance ......................................................................................................................... 17 Pest Management procedures ........................................................................................... 18 Disposal plan ....................................................................................................................... 19 Replanting ........................................................................................................................... 20 6. Criteria for declaring eradication / change of policy ....................................................... 21 7. Evaluation and review of the contingency plan ................................................................ 21 8. Appendix A .......................................................................................................................... 22 Data sheet for Aromia bungii ................................................................................................. 22 Identity ................................................................................................................................. 22 Notes on taxonomy and nomenclature .............................................................................. 22 Biology and ecology ........................................................................................................... 23 Hosts/crops affected ........................................................................................................... 24 Distribution .......................................................................................................................... 28 Phytosanitary status ........................................................................................................... 30 Means of movement and dispersal into the UK ................................................................ 30 3 Natural dispersal ................................................................................................................. 30 Movement in trade............................................................................................................... 30 Control ................................................................................................................................. 31 Phytosanitary measures ..................................................................................................... 32 Impacts ................................................................................................................................ 32 9. References ........................................................................................................................... 33 4 1. Introduction and scope 1.1. This pest specific response plan has been prepared by the Defra Risk and Policy team. It describes how the Plant Health Service for England will respond if an infestation of Aromia bungii is discovered. 1.2. The plant health authorities in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have been consulted on this plan and will use it as the basis for the action they will take in the event of A. bungii being detected in their territories. 1.3. This document will be used in conjunction with the Defra Contingency Plan for Plant and Bee Health in England (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/593508/gener ic-contingency-plan-plant-bee-health-england.pdf), which gives details of the teams and organisations involved in pest response in England, and their responsibilities and governance. It also describes how these teams and organisations work together in the event of an outbreak of a plant health pest. 1.4. The aims of this response plan are to facilitate the containment and eradication of A. bungii and to make stakeholders aware of the planned actions. 2. Summary of threat 2.1. Aromia bungii is native to eastern Asia, in China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam (CABI, 2017). The beetle was also confirmed in Japan in 2013, in the Aichi Prefecture, and has since spread into Tokyo and at least 5 other prefectures (The Japan News, 2017). Outside of Asia, evidence of breeding populations of this beetle were discovered in 2011 in Kolbermoor, Germany, and in 2012 and 2013 in the Campania and Sedriano Regions of Italy, respectively (EPPO reporting service, 2012a, b, 2013c). The beetle was found again in Kolbemoor in 2016, and in the Campania Region in 2017. Eradication activities continue in both countries (EPPO reporting service, 2017a, b). 2.2. Aromia bungii is a woodboring pest of Prunus spp., including P. armeniaca (apricot), P. avium (cherry) and P. persica (peach) (Gressitt, 1942; Liu et al., 1999; EPPO reporting service, 2013a). Aromia bungii has also been recorded on other tree species, including Populus spp. (poplars), but these are mostly from compilation host lists without any supporting evidence, and require further confirmation. 2.3. Larvae bore galleries underneath the outer bark and in the sapwood and heartwood of their hosts, resulting in inhibited fruit development, early senescence and dieback, and eventually the death of plants (EPPO, 2014; CABI, 2017). 2.4. Feeding damage and the death of trees impacts the economy, with respect to reduced yield, the environment, with respect to the loss of ecosystem services, and society, with respect to declining recreational and amenity sites (CABI, 2017; The Japan News, 2017). 5 2.5. Although Prunus plants for planting (A. bungii’s main hosts) are prohibited from third countries where A. bungii is distributed, there is potential for Prunus plants from the EU to become a pathway for the pest to reach the UK. Larvae and pupae within wood and wood packaging is also another possible pathway, even though hosts of A. bungii are not commonly traded as wood or wood packaging, with the exception of Populus spp., such as Populus alba, which is an uncertain host (Anderson et al., 2013; EPPO, 2014). And although ISPM 15 requires that imported wood packaging material is treated to kill wood boring pests, longhorn beetles have been regularly intercepted from Europe, other Asian countries, Africa, Australasia and the Americas despite the introduction of ISPM 15 (Eyre and Haack, 2017). Aromia bungii is able to hitch hike. In 2008, live adult beetles were found amongst wooden pallets in a warehouse in Bristol, UK, and within a manufacturing plant in Seattle, Washington, USA, without any indication of damage (Smith, 2009; Anderson et al., 2013; EPPO, 2014). In addition, a beetle was found in an empty sea container in Blaine, Washington, USA, in 2007 (EPPO, 2014). 2.6. There has been only one interception of A. bungii in the UK (as mentioned in point 2.5). 3. Risk assessments 3.1. Aromia bungii has an unmitigated and mitigated UK Plant Health Risk Register score of 60 and 48, respectively. These scores are reviewed as and when new information becomes available (https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/phiw/riskRegister/viewPestRisks.cfm?cslref=26575). 3.2. Pest risk analyses have been carried out by Germany, the UK, and EPPO (Schrader and Schröder, 2012; Anderson et al., 2013; EPPO, 2014). 3.3. Based on these pest risk analyses, A. bungii is considered likely to establish across the