Host-specificity testing of the leaf-feeding flea beetle, Phenrica guerini, a biological control agent for the invasive alien cactus, Pereskia aculeata

Dixon, Elizabeth; Paterson, Iain D; Muskett, Phillippa C; McConnachie, Andrew

Title: Host-specificity testing of the leaf-feeding flea beetle, Phenrica guerini, a biological control agent for the invasive alien cactus, Pereskia aculeata
Creator: Dixon, Elizabeth
Creator: Paterson, Iain D
Creator: Muskett, Phillippa C
Creator: McConnachie, Andrew
Subject: To be catalogued
Date Issued: 2023
Date: 2023
Type: text
Type: article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/417687
Identifier: vital:71478
Identifier: xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09583157.2023.2214342"
Description: Pereskia aculeata Miller (Cactaceae) is an environmentally damaging invasive alien plant in South Africa and Australia. The flea-beetle, Phenrica guerini Bechyné (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), has been used in South Africa as a biological control agent against the plant for more than 30 years but updated host-specificity testing was required to determine its suitability as an agent in Australia. No-choice larval survival tests were conducted on 26 test plant species from 11 families, with survival to the adult stage only being recorded on the target weed, P. aculeata. No-choice oviposition testing with adult P. guerini was conducted on six test plant species. No adult feeding was recorded on any test plants and significantly more eggs were oviposited on P. aculeata (158.8 SE ± 21.4) than on Talinum caffrum (5.2 SE ± 5.2), which was the only test plant on which they oviposited. The adults survived on average 27 days longer on P. aculeata than on any test plant species. In a multiple-choice trial that included all three species that supported any larval feeding as well as P. aculeata, oviposition and feeding was only recorded on target weed. Phenrica guerini is suitably host specific for consideration in Australia as a biological control agent against P. aculeata.
Format: computer
Format: online resource
Format: application/pdf
Format: 1 online resource (13 pages)
Format: pdf
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Online
Language: English
Relation: Biocontrol Science and Technology
Relation: Dixon, E., Paterson, I., Muskett, P. and McConnachie, A., 2023. Host-specificity testing of the leaf-feeding flea beetle, Phenrica guerini, a biological control agent for the invasive alien cactus, Pereskia aculeata. Biocontrol Science and Technology, pp.1-13
Relation: Biocontrol Science and Technology volume 33 number 7 p. 654 2023 1360-0478
Rights: Publisher
Rights: Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Taylor and Francis Online Terms and Conditions Statement (https://www.tandfonline.com/terms-and-conditions)
Rights: Closed Access

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Muskett, Phillippa C (Ms)

Fraser, Gavin (Prof)

RU Department of Economics and Economic History

RU DST/NRF SARChI for Insects in Sustainable Agricultural Ecosystems

Hill, Martin Patrick (Distinguished Professor)

Paterson, Iain D (Associate Professor)

RU Department of Zoology and Entomology

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