BioControl (2020) 65, 25-36

T.M. Withers, C.L. Todoroki, G.R. Allen, A.R. Pugh and B.A. Gresham (2020)
Host testing of Eadya daenerys, a potential biological control agent for the invasive chrysomelid pest Paropsis charybdis, predicts host specificity to eucalypt-leaf feeding Paropsina
BioControl 65 (1), 25-36
Abstract: Host range testing of a larval endoparasitoid Eadya daenerys Ridenbaugh (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) was conducted. Eadya daenerys is most commonly associated with Paropsisterna agricola (Chapuis) in Australia, but is proposed as a biological control agent for Paropsis charybdis Stål (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in New Zealand. Nine species of non-target beetles with spring-active, external leaf-feeding larvae, were host tested. Development to emergence only occurred within eucalypt-feeding Paropsina pests: the target P. charybdis and another pest Trachymela sloanei (Blackburn). Unsuccessful internal parasitism occurred in four less closely related non-target Chrysomelinae. Considering the different feeding niches occupied by these beetles, we hypothesize that Eadya daenerys is unlikely to cause direct non-target impacts beyond pest Paropsina species in the New Zealand environment.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Toni May Withers, Geoff R. Allen

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
biocontrol - natural enemies
Research topic(s) for beneficials or antagonists:
general biology - morphology - evolution
non-target effects/fate in environm.

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Paropsis charybdis		New Zealand
Eadya daenerys (parasitoid)	Paropsis charybdis