Salvinia molesta D.S. Mitchell (Salviniaceae) (giant salvinia), a floating aquatic fern of Brazilian origin, has been dispersed to much of the tropical and subtropical parts of the world since the mid-1900s, where it is invasive and damaging. Herbicide application and mechanical control of this...

Bananas and plantains are important staple crops for many people in developing countries, but these crops are severely affected by biotic constraints that reduce productivity. A major biotic stress is the banana corm borer weevil (C. sordidus) whose larvae eat corm/pseudostem tissues that...

This review lists 132 species of insect and mite pests associated with date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) grown worldwide. These species are distributed among eight insect orders and 30 families, besides one order of mite comprising nine families. Most of the species (52) were reported on the leaf...

Western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) and northern corn rootworm (Diabrotica barberi (Smith and Lawrence)) are major pests of maize in the USA. These pests have been managed with a variety of tactics over the last century. Both Diabrotica spp. have adapted to crop rotation...

Insect pests constitute a major biotic stress in sugarcane in India as they attack the crop from the time of planting until almost harvest, inflicting yield and sugar losses. Biological control has always received a prominent position among the pest management tools, facilitated by the unique...

Over the years, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) has been used in both classical and augmentative biological control programmes. The ladybird is also considered important in certain conservation biological control programmes. This paper provides a critical review of the ...

The intentional use of insects to control weeds has been in practice for more than 150 years. Historically, species from the orders Lepidoptera and Coleoptera have shown the greatest success. Among the Coleoptera, the weevils (family Curculionidae) have played an integral role in the suppression of ...

Chilocorus nigritus (F.) has been one of the most successful coccidophagous coccinellids in the history of classical biological control. It is an effective predator of many species of Diaspididae, some Coccidae and some Asterolecaniidae, with an ability to colonize a relatively wide range of...

Scolytid beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) are a large group of beetles associated with many tree species. Some species consume dead wood and vector an array of fungi which contribute to recycling of organic material, so are often an important component of forest ecology. However,...

The cabbage root fly (=cabbage maggot), Delia radicum, has increased in importance over the past two decades as a pest of canola (oilseed rape) in Canada. Although D. radicum has been a part of the North American insect fauna for some time, it is not native, so the introduction of natural enemy...