1 - Phytosanitary Resources

Pathways
Geographical Distribution
Tuta absoluta is native to South America and is present in Argentina, Bolivia,
Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Perú, Uruguay, and Venezuela
(EPPO, 2005). It was first reported in Europe at the end of 2006, on tomato
crops in Spain. Tuta absoluta has spread to neighboring European and
Mediterranean countries with alarming speed. The European and
Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization (EPPO) Reporting Service has
provided the reports of T. absoluta in the Euro-Mediterranean region listed in
Table 8-1 on page 8-3.
In addition, Tuta absoluta has been detected in Greece (European Commission,
2009), Lithuania (Ostrauskas and Ivinskis, 2010), Slovenia (Knapic and Marolt
2009), Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Panama, Russia, Saudi
Arabia, Sudan, and Syria (Russell IPM, 2009a). For further information, refer
to the distribution map available from the Centre for Agricultural Bioscience
International (CABI).
Because the movement of tomato fruit and plants is not restricted inside the
European Union (EU) countries, and the spread of Tuta absoluta in the EU is
rapid, the United States currently includes all countries of the EU in the list of
countries infested with this pest.
Accordingly, the following countries of the world are currently considered
infested with Tuta absoluta: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Bahrain,
Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus,
Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece (including Crete), Hungary, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy,
Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,
Morocco, Netherlands, Palestinian Authority (West Bank), Panama, Saudi
Arabia, Paraguay, Perú, Poland, Portugal (including the Azores), Romania,
Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (including the Canary Islands), Sweden,
Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom (all regions), Uruguay,
Venezuela, and Western Sahara (USDA, 2011).
8-2 Tomato Leafminer 6/2011
Emergency and Domestic Programs