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TANSY RAGWORT Senecio jacobaea L. -- Compositae (Contacts) ----- CLICK on Photo to enlarge &
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The first attempt at biological control was in New Zealand with the
cinnabar moth, Tyria jacobaeae (L.) (Cameron 1935),
and effort attended with considerable initial success, but the insects
eventually disappeared (Miller 1940).
Australia also received T.
jacobaeae from New Zealand
during 1929-32, beginning a series of colonizations that continued into the
1950's and 1960's. Efforts to
establish this moth were precluded by the predatory activity of native
insects, mainly scorpion flies (Goeden 1978, Julien 1982).
The moth was then introduced into the United States in 1959, and the
initial release and establishment were summarized by Frick & Holloway
(1964) and the progress of biological control by Hawkes (1968). The moth is univoltine, and first appears
between mid-April and early May in coastal California. The eggs are usually deposited on the
developing second year rosettes, which are those plants that will flower
during the season. The cinnabar
larvae then strip the blossoms and foliage and finally the basal leaves from
the plant. Beginning in early August,
pupation occurs in the soil where the insect overwinters (Hawkes 1968).
Larvae released on a dense ragwort stand covering a coastal flat about
200 yards from the ocean at Fort Bragg, California, gradually increased in
numbers and by 1963 were abundant over about two acres (Andrés & Goeden
1969). Heavy defoliation occurred
within this area, and by 1964 the high population expanded to cover an area
of five acres, by 1965 12 acres, and in that year the highest concentrations
of larvae were evident on the perimeter of the expanding area with lower
numbers behind and in front of the advancing population (Andrés & Goeden
1969). At peak population levels it
was possible to find 100 or more larvae on large plants. This resulted in total defoliation, which
when extended over a period of several seasons, reduced the numbers of
flowering stems from 15-19 per square yard to less than 1/5th the original
abundance (Hawkes 1973).
In spite of the high increase of the Tyria population and excellent localized destruction of
the plant, dispersal of the insect from the original site was quite
slow. From the time of initial large
population increase in 1963 through 1967, the effective population has moved
only about 500 yards. Hawkes (1968)
attributed this slow spread partially to the high density of the plant and
the ready availability of ovipositional sites to the newly emerged
females. The fecund females fly only
slightly until a good portion of their eggs have been laid. This can result in an over concentration
of eggs and developing larvae. In
several years the ground was covered with migrating larvae in search of food,
the majority either starving or being forced into premature pupation.
The potential of the cinnabar moth to control tansy ragwort outside of
the Fort Bragg area was not as great.
Releases were made in other areas of California and Oregon and
Washington with mixed results (Hawkes 1968).
In most areas the populations did not increase sufficiently for
control. In Oregon there were two
sites, however, where marked reductions of the infestations resulted, but
little is known of the differences in mortality factors that could account
for the different rates of progress.
Andrés & Goeden (1969) mentioned that attempts were being made to
establish a seed fly, Hylemya
seneciella Meade, and a
crown-feeding flea beetle, Longitarsus
jacobaea (Waterhouse) in
North America (Frick 1969, 1970) to supplement the action of the cinnabar
moth.
For additional details on biological control effort and biologies of
host and natural enemies, please also refer to the following (Poole 1915, Imms
1929, Miller 1929, 1936, 1937, 1939a,b, 1940a,b, 1950; Tillyard 1927, 1929,
1930, 1934; Cameron 1935, Currie & Fyfe 1938, Cashmore & Campbell
1946, Fullaway 1952, Kelsey 1955, Hoy 1958, 1960, 1963, Warren 1958, Munz
& Keck 1959, Anonymous 1960, Douglas & Schmidl 1960, Parker 1960,
Wilson 1960, Bornemissza 1961, 1966; Bucher & Harris 1961, Gleason &
Cronquist 1963, Frick 1964, Frick & Holloway 1964, Kingsbury 1964,
Wilkinson 1965, Ritcher 1966, Hawkes 1965, 1968; Waterhouse 1966, Simmonds
1967). REFERENCES: [Additional references may be found at: MELVYL
Library ] Anonymous.
1960. Insect on our
side--imported Cinnabar moth larvae eat toxic weed but bypass useful
plants. Agric. Res. 8: 12. Andrés, L. A. & R. D. Goeden. 1969.
Biological control of weeds by introduced natural enemies. In: C. B. Huffaker (ed.), Biological
Control. Plenum/Rosetta Press, New
York. 511 p. Bornemissza, G. F. 1961. TErmination of
pupal diapause in the Cinnabar moth and the reproductive capacity of the
resulting females. Nature 190
(4779): 936-37. Bornemissza, G. F. 1966. An attempt to
control ragwort in Australia with the Cinnabar moth, Callimorpha jacobaeae
(L.) (Arctiidae: Lep: Diptera).
Austral. J. Zool. 14: 201-43. Bucher, G. E., & P. Harris. 1961.
Food-plant spectrum and elimination of disease of Cinnabar moth
larvae, Hypocrita jacobaeae (L.) (Lepidoptera:
Arctiidae). Canad. Ent. 93: 931-36. Cameron, E.
1935. A study of the natural
control of ragwort (Senecio jacobaea L.). J. Ecol. 23: 265-322. Cashmore, A. B. & T. G. Campbell. 1946.
The weed problem in Australia; a review. Austral. Council Sci. & Indus. Res. J. 19: 16-31. Currie, G.
A. & R. V. Fyfe. 1939. The
fate of certain European insects introduced into Australia for the control of
weeds. Austral. Council Sci. & Indus.
Res. J. 11: 289-301. Douglas, G. W.
& L. Schmidl. 1960. A
review of biological control of noxious weeds in Victoria. 2nd Austral. Weed Conf. 1 Proc., Paper
1. 6 p. Frick, K. E.
1964. Some endemic insects
that feed on introduced tansy ragwort (Senecio
jacobaea) in Western United
States. Ann. Ent. Soc.
Amer. 57: 707-10. Frick, K. E. & J. K. Holloway. 1964.
Establishment of the Cinnabar moth, Tyria jacobaeae,
on tansy ragwort in the Western United States. J. Econ. Ent. 57:
152-54. Fullaway, D. T. 1952. Fifty years
progress in the biological control of weeds-- a review. Hawaii Bd. Commrs. Agric. & Forestry. 12 p. Gleason, H. A. & A. Cronquist. 1963.
Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent
Canada. D. Van Nostrand Col, Inc.,
Princeton, New Jersey. 810 p. Goeden, R.
D. 1978. Part II: Biological control of weeds, p.
357-545. In: C. P. Clausen
(ed.), Introduced Parasites and Predators of Arthropod Pests and Weeds. U. S. Dept. Agric. Handb. No. 480. Hawkes, R. B.
1965. Progress in biological
control of rangeland weeds. Rangeland
Insect Mtg. Proc., Albany, Calif., March 17-18, 1964. p. 22-25. Hawkes, R. B.
The Cinnabar moth, Tyria
jacobaeae (L.) for control
of tansy ragwort. J. Econ.
Ent. 61: 499-501. Hoy, J.
M. 1958. The collection of Hylemyia seneciella (Meade) (Diptera: Muscidae) for shipment to
Australia. New Zeal. J. Sci. 1: 417-22. Hoy, J.
M. 1960. Collection of Hylemyia seneciella (Meade) (Diptera: Muscidae) in 1959
season. New Zeal. J. Sci. 3: 100-02. Hoy, J.
M. 1963. Present and future
prospects for biological control of weeds.
New Zealand Sci. Rev. 22:
17-19. Imms, A. D.
1929. Remarks on biological
control of noxious weeds. 4th
Internatl. Cong. Ent. Trans. (1928) 2:
10-17. Julien, M. H.
(ed.). 1982.
Biological control of weeds: a
world catalogue of agents and their target weeds, 1st ed. Commonw. Agric. Bur., Slough, U.K. 108 p. Kelsey, J. M.
1955. Ragwort seed-fly
establishment in New Zealand. New
Zeal. J. Sci. Technol. Ser. A, 36:
605-07. Miller, D.
1929. Control of ragwort: experimental work with Cinnabar moth. New Zealand J. Sci. Technol. 11: 112-19. Miller, D.
1936. Biological control of
noxious weeds. New Zeal. J. Sci.
Technol. 18: 581-84. Miller, D. 1937.
Control of noxious weeds.
Cawthron Inst. (Nelson, New Zealand) Ann. Rept. 1936: 12-13. Miller, D.
1938. Control of noxious
weeds. Cawthron Inst. (Nelson, New
Zealand) Ann. Rept. 1937: 17-18. Miller,
D. 1939a. Control of
weeds by insects. Effect on
blackberry, ragwort, and piripiri.
New Zealand. J. Agric. 58: 37, 39. Miller,
D. 1940a. Biological
control of noxious weeds of New Zealand.
In: R. O. Wythes (ed.), The Control of
Weeds. Imp. Bur. Pastures, Herbage
Pub. Ser. Bull. 27: 153-57. Miller, D.
1940b. Entomological
notes. Cawthron Inst. (Nelson, New
Zealand) Ann. Rept. 1939: 24-5. Miller,
D. 1950. Entomological
Investigations. Cawthron Inst.
(Nelson, New Zealand) Ann. REpt. 1949-1950.
39-40. Munz, P. A. & D. D. Keck. 1959.
A California Flora. Univ. of
Calif. Press. 1681 p. Parker, H. L.
1960. Starvation tests with
the larvae of the Cinnabar moth. J. Econ.
Ent. 53: 472-73. Poole, H. S.
1915. Senecio jacobaea
and Callimorpha jacobaea (The cattle killing
ragwort and the Cinnabar moth). Nova
Scotian Inst. Proc. (Halifax) 13:
279-88. Ritcher, P. O.
1966. Biological control of
insects and weeds in Oregon. Oreg.
Agric. Expt. Sta. Tech. Bull. 90. 39
p. Simmonds, F. J. 1967. Biological
control of pests of veterinary importance.
Vet. Bull. 37: 71-85. Tillyard, R. J. 1927. Insect control of
noxious weeds. Joint scheme initiated
against blackberry and other species.
New Zealand J. Agric. 34:
84-90. Tillyard, R. J. 1929. The biological
control of noxious weeds. 4th
Internatl. Cong. Ent. Trans. 2: 4-9. Tillyard, R. J. 1930. The biological
control of noxious weeds. Roy. Soc.
Tasmania Proc. (1929): 41-86. Tillyard, R. J. 1934. The entomological
control of noxious weeds in the Pacific region. 5th Pacific Sci. Cong. Proc. 5: 3547-57. Warren, R.
1958. Tansy ragwort... a
poisonous weed. Oreg. Agric. Col.
Ext. Bull. 171. 4 p. Waterhouse, D. F. 1966. The entomological
control of weeds in Australia. Mushi
39 (sup.): 109-118. Wilkinson, A. T. S. 1965. Release of
Cinnabar moth, Hypocrita jacobaeae (L.), (Lepidoptera:
Arctiidae) on tansy ragwort in British Columbia. Ent. Soc. Brit. Columbia Proc. 62:
10-13. Wilson,
F. 1960. A review of
the biological control of insects and weeds in Australia and Australian New
Guinea. Commonwealth Inst. Biol.
Control, Tech. Commun. 1: 102 p. |
