March 2009. A request from Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, for an opinion on the photos submitted: is this a virus infection in Merremia peltata?
The former virologist of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community mentioned he had seen virus-like symptoms on Merremia previously in a couple of places in the Pacific, but was unable to get confirmation.
However, Merremia mosaic virus is a newly described begomovirus species originating from indigenous weeds in PR and is recently adapted to tomato:
Baumann K, Idris A, Bird J, Brown J (2005) Phytopathology Vol. 95, no. 6, suppl., [np].
Geminiviruses are not the easiest viruses to test for, but it may be possible to get samples tested.
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