Abstract
In a damage trial in pots, Lixus aemulus, a stem-boring weevil imported from Brazil, caused 66.6% mortality of the stems and reduced the dry mass of infested Chromolaena odorata stems by 46.6%. There was a 94.4% reduction in the number of achenes produced on the infested branches. These results indicate that L. aemulus has potential to have impact as a biological control agent of C. odorata.
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Acknowledgments
We thank T. Olckers for comments on the manuscript, S. Neser for the collection of L. aemulus, J.M. Goodall for the statistical tests, D.␣Briese for information on L. cardui, D.B. Nkala for data recording, M. Gareeb for dissection of stems and L.D. Khumalo for dry mass determination. Financial support was provided by the ‘Working for Water’ Programme (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry).
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Kluge, R.L., Zachariades, C. Assessing the damage potential of the stem-boring weevil Lixus aemulus for the biological control of Chromolaena odorata . Biocontrol 51, 547–552 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-006-9004-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10526-006-9004-x