Descriptions of lethal yellowing (LY) in coconut plants were documented in the late 19th century in the Caribbean region, but the first widespread devastation of coconuts due to LY took place in Jamaica during the 1960s. Subsequently, reports of LY began to emerge in other countries such as the USA (Florida), Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and various other Caribbean islands including Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic and St. Kitts and Nevis in the Leeward Island, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Maarten. Similar diseases known collectively as lethal yellowing-type syndromes have also been described elsewhere in the tropics. In West Africa: Awka wilt in Nigeria, Cape St. Paul wilt in Ghana and Ivory Coast, Kaïncopé in Togo, and Kribi in Cameroon. In East Africa, a lethal disease also occurs in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. Bogia syndrome in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands and a lethal wilt in Australia have been described. In spite of the different names the disease symptoms are very similar, while the associated phytoplasmas are diverse in the various geographic areas. Five 'Candidatus Phytoplasma' species are reported as associated with lethal yellowing syndromes in palms in the diverse continents: 'Ca. P. palmicola' and 'Ca. P. cocostanzaniae' in Africa, 'Ca. P. palmae' in America, 'Ca. noviguineense' and 'Ca. P. dypsidis' in Papua New Guinea and Australia. Other non-lethal yellowing phytoplasma-associated diseases are described in coconut in south and south-east Asia, such as Weligama wilt in Sri Lanka and Kerala wilt in India, and in different palm species such as oil palm, date palm and arecanut palm in Colombia, Indian subcontinent, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where 'Ca. P. asteris', 'Ca. P. oryzae', 'Ca. P. wodyetiae' and 'Ca. P. cynodontis' were respectively reported (Yankey et al., 2018 ). Although the transmission of phytoplasmas to and among palms has been intensively studied, to date the only insect vector identified is Haplax