Complete development on Elodea canadensis (Hydrocharitaceae) eliminates Hydrellia egeriae (Diptera,Ephydridae) as a candidate biological control agent of Egeria densa (Hydrocharitaceae) in the U.S.A. |
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| Authors: | Paul D Pratt John C Herr Raymond I Carruthers Guillermo Cabrera Walsh |
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| Institution: | 1. USDA/ARS, Invasive Species and Pollinator Health Research Unit, Albany, CA, USA;2. Department of Plant and Environmental Protection (retired), University of Hawaii, San Diego, CA, USA;3. Fundación para el Estudio de Especies Invasivas, Hurlingham, Argentina |
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| Abstract: | The leaf-mining fly Hydrellia egeriae Rodrigues-Junior (Diptera: Ephydridae) was evaluated under quarantine conditions as a candidate biological control agent of the invasive aquatic weed Egeria densa Planchon (Hydrocharitaceae) in California, U.S.A. The objective of this study was to test the fly’s feeding preference for E. densa as compared to the North American native Elodea canadensis Michaux (Hydrocharitaceae), an important benchmark species. No choice testing revealed that H. egeriae can complete development on E. canadensis and choice testing indicated the fly presents little oviposition discrimination between E. densa and E. canadensis. It is concluded that the host range of H. egeriae is too broad for use as a biological control agent of E. densa in the U.S.A. |
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| Keywords: | Invasive plant aquatic weed leaf-mining fly herbivory host range testing |
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