TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

One of the citrus industry's most feared pests has been found in a Tulare County citrus grove and agriculture officials are hoping it's an isolated find.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture confirmed in early February that they found a single Asian citrus psyllid, a destructive pest capable of carrying the deadly citrus disease known as citrus greening, or huanglongbing.

The lone bug was found in an insect trap just east of Lindsay, making it the first time an Asian citrus psyllid has been found in the valley's citrus belt.

In 2009, the Fresno County Department of Agriculture's canine team found about 10 psyllids on curry leaves inside a duffle bag at the FedEx facility in Fresno.

In Kern County, an insect was misidentified as a citrus psyllid "months ago," said Ruben Arroyo, Kern's agricultural commissioner, on Wednesday.

But citrus industry leaders who have been on the front lines of battling the pest in Southern California are optimistic the bug found in Tulare County was a recent arrival and not the offspring of a breeding population of psyllids in the area.

Ted Batkin, president of the California Citrus Research Board, said normally psyllids are most active during the late fall months, not the winter.

Batkin thinks the bug came in on plant material or a vehicle that drove in from outside the area.

"We call these kinds of finds hitchhikers," Batkin said. "And hopefully we aren't going to find any more."

Arroyo said the pests are "kind of a situation that's knocking at our back door."

He said the citrus psyllid "basically wiped out" a large amount of the citrus juicing crop in Florida a few years ago, and more recently, disease-carrying bugs have been found in Texas. In Southern California, the insects, but not the disease, have been found.

And the stakes in the Central Valley are particularly high, Arroyo said, because so much citrus is grown here.

Tulare is the top citrus producing county in the state, he said.

Kern County Farm Bureau executive director Ben McFarland added that citrus was the fifth highest ranked commodity in Kern with a production value of about $487 million in the 2010 crop report.

"That again," he said, "underscores the importance of making that small investment in border protection and pest prevention with how important citrus is to Kern."

Though Arroyo said no citrus psyllids have been found in Kern, the county has "been trapping for this particular insect for a couple of seasons now."

Arroyo added that the citrus industry has generally taken a proactive, cooperative approach to protect itself from pests.

"They taxed themselves, basically, for a trapping program," he said.

Marilyn Kinoshita, Tulare County agricultural commissioner, said Tuesday that additional insect traps in the area have not turned up any more Asian citrus psyllids.

About 150 traps were set up by state officials, and they will continue to be checked every two weeks for up to two years.

Kinoshita said that while she is relieved no more psyllids have been found, the recent discovery was good practice for what could eventually happen.

"There is always the potential for someone to bring something in," Kinoshita said. "And we have to be ready."

-- Californian staff writer Jill Cowan contributed to this report.