New record of the invasive South American tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in India

The occurrence of the South American tomato leaf miner, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is being reported for first time as an invasive pest on tomato and potato in India. T. absoluta was observed during regular surveillance on tomato at Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) and adjoining farmers. fields in Bengaluru, Karnataka during November 2014 as a part of Real Time Pest Surveillance of Tomato (RTPST) of National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) Project. Subsequent surveys revealed the presence of the pest in six districts of Karnataka State viz., Bengaluru Rural & Urban, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagar and Tumkur. Incidence of the T. absoluta has also been recorded on potato. Larvae were generally found to feed on leaves, creating blotch-like mines visible from both sides of the leaf and several mines were observed on a single leaf. The larvae were also observed feeding on apical buds, stalks and boring the fruits. The affected fruits carried distinct holes mainly in the upper half towards fruit stalk and usually covered with faecal mass. The infestation of T. absoluta ranged from low to high (up to 15 mines/plant) in different tomato fields surveyed. In some of the fields up to 87% of the tomato plants were infested by T. abosoluta. A zoophytophagous mirid bug, Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter) (Hemiptera: Miridae) was recorded as predator on eggs and early larval stages of T. absoluta under field conditions. Hence, there is an urgent need to deploy suitable management practices to contain further spread of this potential pest.