Importation, establishment and preliminary impact assessment of Chamaesphecia mysiniformis (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) for the biological control of horehound in Australia

摘要

Horehound invades pastures and dry open natural habitats in Australia south of 26°S and is a serious problem in South Australia and Victoria. In western Victoria large infestations of the weed threaten natural areas such as Wyperfeld National Park (NP). In the early 1990s a research project focused on the weed's ecology in Australia and Europe. Surveys for potential biological control agents conducted in western-Mediterranean Europe identified the arthropod fauna associated with the weed and four species were selected for host-specificity testing including Chamaesphecia mysiniformis (Boisduval). Releases of C. mysiniformis occurred in 1999 at Wyperfeld NP, Victoria and three locations in South Australia. Surveys conducted at Wyperfeld NP in 2001 and 2003 indicate that the insect has established and dispersed over several kilometres.