First report of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus affecting zucchini squash in an important horticultural area of southern Italy

Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) is a bipartite begomovirus (family Geminiviridae) which infects species in the families Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae (Padidam et al., 1995; Mizutani et al., 2011). Begomoviruses are transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci in a persistent manner (Rosen et al., 2015). In October 2015, severe symptoms not previously reported by growers in the horticultural area of the Province of Trapani (Sicily, Italy) were observed on zucchini squash (Cucurbita pepo) in open fields. The symptoms included yellow mosaic, severe leaf curling, swelling of veins of young leaves, shortening of internodes, roughness of the skin of fruit and reduced fruit size; the sympt…