POTENTIAL DISTRIBUTION IN MEXICO OF DIAPHORINA CITRI (HEMIPTERA: PSYLLIDAE) VECTOR OF HUANGLONGBING PATHOGEN

Huanglongbing (HLB), the citrus disease associated with the bacteria 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus', is the most important threat of the Mexican citrus industry. Since 2009, this bacterium has been detected in 11 out of 23 citrus producing states of the country, although with a limited distribution in each state. The Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri Kuwayama [Hemiptera: Psyllidae]) is the vector of this bacterium; the insect is distributed in all the citrus growing zones of Mexico. Presently, the lime production zone in the Mexican states of Colima, Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit, and Sinaloa, near to the Pacific Ocean coast, is the most affected by this disease. One of the main strategies to retard or stop the advance of HLB consists in the regional management of the psyllid populations. In order to contribute to the support of this strategy we analyzed the daily courses of temperature and rainfall all over the country to classify the citrus zones according to the probability of occurrence of favorable conditions for rapid and continuous psyllid reproduction. The results indicate that one of the most important regions of sweet orange production of Mexico, southern Veracruz and the region named La Huasteca, where the states of Veracruz, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi and Hidalgo converge, represent the zones with the highest risk for an accelerated reproduction of the psyllid. At present these regions remain free of the bacterium and are considered of highest priority for the management of psyllid populations and for preventing the entry and establishment of HLB.