The article is devoted to four harmful weevil species of the genus Anthonomus Germar, being of phytosanitary importance for the Russian Federation, namely: Anthonomus signatus Say, 1831, Anthonomus eugenii Cano, 1894, Anthonomus grandis Boheman, 1843 and Anthonomus quadrigibbus (Say, 1831). It provides data on the composition, distribution and trophic preferences of the genus Anthonomus, one of the most numerous in species among Curculionidae, as well as the invasion potential of its representatives. It outlines the general information about each of the four stated harmful species, including the data on its distribution, host plants, biology, quarantine status for certain countries and international organizations, its invasion beyond its natural area. There has been studied and thoroughly discussed the morphology of some of its body parts bearing diagnostic characters easy to use. It concerns, primarily, the shape of the fore femurs and fore tibiae, the structure of male aedeagus and the color of the hairs that make up the pubescence of beetles. Based on these and some other characters, a diagnostic key to the mentioned four species of the genus Anthonomus has been proposed. The direction of further research on the stated topic is indicated. All images of beetles and individual parts of their bodies used in the article are original; the “Materials and Methods” section provides methods for obtaining and subsequent processing of these images. The article is of interest to entomologists, specialists in the field of phytosanitary biology and plant protection.

Most Diaporthe spp. belong to phytopathogenic fungi affecting a wide range of host plants, including the genus Vaccinium. These fungi often cause apical necrosis of stems, leading to plant drying out and death, and also significantly affecting the shelf life and presentation of berries. The pathogens have similar symptoms of disease manifestation on plants, and when isolated into a pure culture, they have similar cultural and morphological features, which makes it difficult to carry out reliable phytosanitary diagnostics. It should be noted that one of the species of the genus Diaporthe vaccinii Shear has a quarantine status for the Russian Federation. In this work, we conducted a study of species of the genus Diaporthe such as Diaporthe eres Nitschke, Diaporthe rudis Nitschke and Diaporthe bohemiae Guarnaccia, Eichmeier & Crous, obtained during the examination of the northern highbush blueberry plantings (V. corymbosum L.) from Kaliningrad Oblast, and the quarantine species D. vaccinii, isolated during phytosanitary examination of large cranberry planting material (V. macrocarpon L.) of imported origin (Belarus). D. bohemiae was first detected in Russia in samples of highbush blueberry from Kaliningrad Oblast. As a result of the research, a method was obtained that accelerates the formation and development of pycnidia and pycnospores, presented in the form of 2 spore types: alpha (α) and beta (β) conidia, tested species of the genus Diaporthe. By cultivating isolates on 2% malt agar with additional illumination with an erythema lamp for 7 days, diagnostically significant morphological structures of D. vaccinii were obtained. The method is applicable in laboratory research of regulated material of plants of the genus Vaccinium for the detection and identification of the causative agent of viscid rot of blueberries D. vaccinii. During the work, cultural and morphological features were described and comparative characteristics of the studied species D. vaccinii, D. eres, D. rudis and D. bohemiae were given.

Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV), a representative of the genus Potexvirus, is a quarantine pest for the EAEU and the EPPO countries, as well as some other countries on different continents. The main host plants of the virus are tomato and eggplant, though it also affects peppers, potatoes and pepino. Tomato fruit yield losses as a result of PepMV infection can reach 30-40%. PepMV is characterized by various pathways and can maintain in plant debris, soil, water, hydroponic solutions and on various inert surfaces for a long time. Seed infection plays an important role in the spread of PepMV. With infected seeds, the virus can spread to new territories, and single infected seeds in a batch can cause colossal damage to vegetable producers during the growing season. The global PepMV population consists of five genetically distinct strains, making it difficult to diagnose using molecular methods. The purpose of the research was to search for primers that allow universal detection of isolates of all PepMV strains and primers that allow highly specific determination of the strain affiliation of the detected isolates of this virus. Based on the results of testing 13 pairs of primers, three pairs of primers were identified for the universal detection of all PepMV strains and two pairs of primers for the highly specific detection of Eu/Peruvian strains. The need for further screening of primers for highly specific determination of CH1/US1 and CH2 PepMV strains has been stated.

Countries in Southeast Asia may be a source of spread of dangerous invasive plant species. Among them can be both decorative species, widely used in urban landscaping, and weeds of seed and planting material. Among the latter, there are often species included in the Common List of Quarantine Pests of the Eurasian Economic Union: Bidens pilosa L., Bidens bipinnata L., Ipomoea hederacea Jacq., Cuscuta sp., Striga sp. Collection of diaspores of these species from different parts of the range is necessary for the development of modern techniques for their identification. Today, identification of seeds and fruits of plants in the field of plant quarantine is carried out, as a rule, by morphological characteristics, which does not always give the correct result. The development of molecular genetic methods will improve the accuracy of species identification and reduce the time required to conduct research.