Sabbatini Peverieri G., Binazzi F., Roversi P.F. – Chestnut-Associated insects alien to Europe. 

The genus Castanea comprises 12 species worldwide. Castanea sativa Miller, C. mollissima Blume and C. crenata Siebold & Zucc. are the most important providing a relevant supply of either timber or edible fruits. In particular, C. sativa, because of the high economic value of its fruits, is widely cultivated as pure species or hybrids. The accidental introduction in Italy of the East Asian Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, responsible for severe damages to C. sativa, stressed the importance of implementing monitoring activities and control strategies in southern Europe. Therefore, in order to provide the phytosanitary services operating at European entry points with a useful monitoring tool, more than 150 phytophagous insect species known to attack Castanea spp. in North America and Eastern Asia were listed in this review. The risk of their potential introduction and possible threat to European chestnuts were evaluated on the basis of the available literature. To this end, three risk categories were defined: Low risk (L), Medium risk (M) and High risk (H). All the listed species were included in one of them. 

http://dx.doi.org/10.19263/REDIA-100.17.13