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Issue 107, February 2024 articles

  1. Chilean Flame Creeper Beetle Passes the Test

    Chilean flame creeper is a climbing vine that has become an important environmental weed in Southland, Otago and Canterbury. It is present in the lower regions of the North Island, but it is only considered a minor weed there. A biological control programme was initiated in 2021 following the serend...

  2. Yellow Flag Iris Flea Beetle Touches Down

    With the new year a new candidate biocontrol agent arrived at our insect containment facility at Lincoln. Angela Bownes’s Christmas holiday in South Africa presented the opportunity for 34 adults of the yellow flag iris flea beetle to be hand-carried to New Zealand. The beetles are being reared by t...

  3. A Flying Start for a Bud-Galling Wasp

    We are excited to report that our most recently introduced biocontrol agent, the Sydney golden wattle bud-galling wasp, has shown positive signs of establishment following its release last summer.

  4. Variability in Herbivory Shows Patterns, and it Matters

    Interactions between plants and herbivores are central to most ecosystems, but the high variability of these interactions makes it difficult to determine exactly how herbivores influence plant response to herbivory pressures. A group of researchers from Michigan State University set out to explore t...

  5. Welcome Luise Schulte

    We are delighted to welcome Luise Schulte to the Biocontrol & Molecular Ecology team at Manaaki Whenua.

  6. Autumn Activities 2024

    Gall-forming agents 
    Check broom gall mite (Aceria genistae) sites for signs of galling. Very heavy galling, leading to the death of bushes, has been observed at many sites. Harvesting of galls is best undertaken from late spring to early summer, when predatory mites are less abundant. 
    Check hiera...