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Few Aphrophoridae, namelyPhilaenus spumarius,P. italosignusandNeophilaenus campestris,transmitXylella fastidiosa paucaST53 causing the Apulian OQDS (Olive Quick Decline Syndrome) episode. Vector control is the effective, least impacting and sustainable action to manage and contain insect-borne pathogens. One of us (Porcelli) presented the first draft of an Aphrophoridae vector control strategy during the Symposium in Gallipoli. The same author proposed a more elaborated scheme for EFSA in the POnTE H2020 project kick-off. The strategy targets juvenile spittlebugs for vector control also because they are out of the olives trees, unable to transmit and far in time from transmission risks, pretty delicate and susceptible to several meansforcontrol, relatively easy to countex-anteandex-postcontrol action, with a control window wide enough to allow a second chance in case of first control action failure. Vector population size is among the few key factors shaping a rational control strategy. Still, traditional adult sweeping net sampling or juvenile seeking by a looking glass does not gather the needed quantitative data.In 2016 we faced the need for novel sampling techniques focused on juvenile spittlebugs because naiades and nymphs are into the spittle and almost immotile, thus appearing as the best possible instars for population measure. The first flotation experiments consisted of collecting herbs in olive orchards, either managed or abandoned and in urban areas from within a transect and washing the plants in water untilcollecting all thejuveniles. Reducing the transect size from 0.25 to 0.04 m2and adding NaCl and Sucrose to increase the juvenile floating, we suggest a method simple and effective that recorded the highest Aphrophoridae juvenile population (about 10,470,000 per ha). Flotation demonstrated striking differences in population among managed, unmanaged groves and urban environments. |
