Leyla Valdivia-Buitriago, leyla@hawaii.edu and Mark G. Wright, markwrig@hawaii.edu. University of Hawaii at Manoa, Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, 3050 Maile Way, Room 310, Honolulu, HI
With the aim to assess current impacts of past biocontrol introductions on endemic entomofauna in Hawaii, the parasitoid community targeting the native Hawaiian moth Udea stellata (Crambidae) is being examined. Parasitism levels are being assessed by surveying the parasitism of larvae collected on their host plant Piptirus albidus(Urticacea) in native habitats and also by deploying eggs and different larval instars on potted host plants.
Preliminary results show that accidentally-introduced larval parasitoids rather than purposely introduced ones are responsible for an extensive part the mortality suffered by U. stellata populations. This suggests that at least for this system, classical biological control agents are not responsible for non-target impacts.
Species 1: Lepidoptera Crambidae
Udea stellataSpecies 2: Hymenoptera Ichneumonidae
Trathala flavoorbitalisKeywords: non-target effects
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