Bacterial wilt of Solanaceaous crops, described in Martinique in the 1960s, was known to be caused mainly by biovar 3 and biovar 1 strains of Ralstonia solanacearum (Prior and Steva, 1990). Since 1999, R. solanacearum has provoked considerable damage in anthurium fields. These outbreaks are due to new biovar 1 strains, genotypically identical to insect-transmitted "Moko" (bacterial wilt of banana) strains (MLG25, ecotype SFR/A), but not pathogenic (NP) on Banana Cavendish. The number of disease spots has been increasing ever since, spreading to the whole island. The host range of R. solanacearum has also widened to Heliconia caribea, Cucurbitaceous crops (cantaloupe, cucumber, squash, zucchini), Canna indica, and several weeds. Fegan and Prior (2003) distinguished four phylotypes within R. solanacearum (I to IV), each subdivided in sequevars. All the isolates collected from 1989 to 2003 were characterized according to this classification. Isolates from Cucurbitaceae, Heliconia, weeds, as well as most of the anthurium isolates were typed in this group of new strains (phylotype II sequevar 4NP), which just appeared in 1998. The isolates from Solanaceae were distributed among new and old strains (phylotypes I and II, biovar 3, and 1, respectively). These results tend to demonstrate the emergence of a new population, with a broad host range and a high dissemination rate, which may overcome the former population. The biological and epidemiological features of these new strains need to be investigated, in order to set up integrated management strategies. (Texte intégral)