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Establishment of Rhinocyllus conicus on Milk Thistle in Southern California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2017

R.D. Goeden  and
D.W. Ricker
R.D. Goeden
Affiliation:
Div. of Biol. Control, Univ. California, Riverside, CA 92502
D.W. Ricker
Affiliation:
Div. of Biol. Control, Univ. California, Riverside, CA 92502
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Abstract

During 1971 and 1972, 4,400 adults of Rhinocyllus conicus Froelich were introduced into southern California from Italy for the biological control of milk thistle [Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertner]. These flowerhead-infesting weevils were colonized at nine, and successfully established at five, widely separated locations. Field data on the incidence and increase of R. conicus at colonization sites are presented. Biotic mortality factors reported for R. conicus in southern California include predation of eggs by ladybird beetles (Hippodamia sp.) and of adults by snakeflies [Raphidia (Agulla) adnixa Hagen] and spiders, destruction of weevils in flower-heads consumed by cattle and rodents, and larval and pupal parasitism by pyomotid mites.

Type
Research Article
Information
Weed Science , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , May 1977 , pp. 288 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © 1977 by the Weed Science Society of America 

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References

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