Manuka beetles (Pyronota festiva and P. setosa) have become a serious and persistent pest on developed land on the West Coast of New Zealand. The broad spectrum insecticide diazinon has failed to adequately control this ...

Pectobacterium carotovorum subspecies brasiliensis (P. c. subsp. brasiliensis), a member of the soft rot Erwinias (SREs), was first described as the causative agent of a stem disease in potato called blackleg. Blackleg ...

Producers and processors of cereal grains in New Zealand were invited in August 2015 to submit grain samples to allow extraction and identification of any insect pest species present. Sixty grain samples were received, of ...

The majority of herbivorous insects are specialized feeders restricted to a plant family, genus, or species. The evolution of specialized insect–plant interactions is generally considered to be a result of trade-offs in ...

Field parasitism rates of the Argentine stem weevil Listronotus bonariensis (Kuschel; Coleoptera: Curculionidae) by Microctonus hyperodae Loan (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) are known to vary according to different host Lolium ...

Invasive species present significant threats to global agriculture, although how the magnitude and distribution of the threats vary between countries and regions remains unclear. Here, we present an analysis of almost 1,300 ...

To protect productive grasslands from pests and diseases, effective pre- and at-border planning and interventions are necessary. Biosecurity failure inevitably requires expensive and difficult eradication, or long-term and ...