Occurrence of Tuta absoluta

In Jan and Feb 2015, the tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), was found to have entered and established in the Malnad and Hyderabad-Karnataka Regions of Karnataka, India, where it is infesting tomato and potato crops. To our knowledge, this is the first record of T absoluta in these regions of India. The incidence recorded appears to be comparatively small at some locations, but this damaging insect may spread to other regions of India and cause serious crop loss in the future. Probably, the introduced populations are resistant to various insecticides, and management of insecticide-resistant populations poses additional problems.