Woolly ash aphid Prociphilus (Meliarhizophagus) fraxinifolii (Riley, 1979) is a pest of ash native to North America. After its first record in Europe in 2003 in Hungary it has spread to Ukraine (first record in 2005), Serbia (2006), Bulgaria (2007), Great Britain (2011), Spain (2011), Poland (2012) and Germany (2015). In 2016 P.(M.) fraxinifolii was recorded at the southwestern border of Russia. Here we report the establishment of P.(M.) fraxinifolii in the centre of European Russia, namely in Moscow, which is more than 700 km far from all other known localities of the species. In September 2017 five groups of trees (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) with colonies of P. (M.) fraxinifolii were found. This record indicates that the pest continues to spread quickly and can appear in other regions of European Russia and neighbouring countries including Baltic countries soon.

Keywords: Prociphilus fraxinifolii, Fraxinus, pest of ash, exotic species, invasive species, Russia.