Overview
- CBP agriculture specialists found the insect during a mid-October routine inspection at the Port of San Luis, Arizona, in a radicchio shipment from Mexico.
- The specimen was sent to USDA APHIS, where the National Identification Service verified it as Osbornellus salsus, recording the species’ first U.S. interception.
- Officials secured the shipment and sent it back to Mexico, following established phytosanitary procedures intended to prevent pest establishment.
- CBP said the detection does not suspend agricultural imports from Mexico, with ongoing inspections at border ports to ensure compliance.
- Leafhoppers feed on plant sap and related species can transmit plant pathogens, and as of the latest reports the detection remains contained and Mexican authorities have not issued a public statement.