First Report of Eutypella Canker Caused by Eutypella parasitica on Acer campestre in Italy

E. parasitica, a pathogen probably native to North America, was detected for the first time in Europe (Slovenia) in 2005 (Jurc et al. 2006) and thereafter reported in Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, and Poland (Cech et al. 2016; Černý et al. 2017). This is the first record of E. parasitica in Italy, where maple tree species (mainly A. campestre, A. pseudoplatanus, and A. platanoides L.) are naturally present in the mountain forests in the Alps and intensively cultivated for timber production. The wide spread and virulence of this pathogen together with its recent detection in the same sites on A. pseudoplatanus represents a serious threat to maple ecosystems in the Alpine region.