Cost effectiveness of biological control of invasive mole crickets in Florida pastures

Publication date: Available online 2 June 2016 Source:Biological Control Author(s): Grace J. Mhina, Norman C. Leppla, Michael H. Thomas, Daniel Solís The mole cricket biological control program (MCBCP) is a compelling example of successfully managing alien invasive pests that warrants formal analysis and documentation of its effectiveness and benefits relative to costs for cattlemen in the southeastern U.S. Three biological control agents that parasitize the short-winged mole cricket, Neoscapteriscus abbreviatus (Scudder); tawny mole cricket, N. vicinus (Scudder); and southern mole cricket, N. borellii (Giglio-Tos) (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae) were imported from the origin of the pests in South America, tested for non-target affects, and distributed widely in Florida. Larra bicolor F. (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae), a parasitoid of large nymph and adult mole crickets, was collected in Bolivia and established in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi during 1988-89. Another parasitoid of large mole crickets, Ormia depleta (Wiedemann) (Diptera: Tachinidae), was introduced several times from Brazil during the early 1980s and released extensively. An entomopathogenic nematode discovered in Uruguay, Steinernema scapterisci (Nematoda: Rhabditida: Steinernematidae) reproduces within adult mole crickets, building up large populations that infect additional mole crickets and ultimately create an epidemic. This very effective biological control agent was applied to pasture...
Source: Biological Control - Category: Biology Source Type: research