Abstract: During the summer of 2010/2011, serious yield losses, due to a hitherto unidentified white grub, were reported by sweet potato growers in the Loskop Valley near Marble Hall, Mpumalanga (at 25°00’S 29°15’E). Some of the larger white grubs were successfully laboratory reared to obtain adult beetles. The adults that eventually emerged were identified as Temnorhynchus coronatus (Fabricius, 1781) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Dynastinae).
Abstract: The Asian ladybird beetle, Harmonia axyridis (HA) (Insecta: Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), is a generalist predator long valued as a biocontrol agent of pestiferous aphids and other invertebrates. However, HA has become highly invasive in North America and Europe. The beetle is eurytopic, broadly polyphagous, very dispersive and phenotypically highly plastic. In the United States and Europe, this pest is implicated in adverse ecological impacts involving changes in invaded communities through interspecific competition and intraguild predation. Additionally, HA can be a household nuisance, and affect human health and agricultural production. The beetle has now reached South Africa. A founder population has become established in the Western Cape province, and the species has also been collected in the Eastern Cape province. We present illustrated diagnoses of HA and selected resident South African Coccinellidae with which it may be confused. There is reason to suspect that HA will spread rapidly through much of South Africa and beyond and bring to bear its negative consequences here. The early detection of this incursion presents a rare opportunity to study an anticipated biological invasion virtually from its beginning.
Abstract: Eutarsopolipus lukoschusi Husband, 1986 and Regenpolipus namibius Husband, 1986 (Acari: Podapolipidae), previously known as ectoparasites of Thermophilum decemguttatum (Linnaeus,1764) (Coleoptera: Carabidae) from three localities in South Africa, are found to be widely distributed in South Africa and Namibia on T. decemguttatum and Anthia species (Coleoptera: Carabidae). Regenpolipus anthiae Husband and Camerik n. sp. is described from Anthia species collected in Botswana and R. capensis Husband and Camerik n. sp. is described from T. decemguttatum collected in Western Cape Province, South Africa. Keys of Regenpolipus are provided.
Abstract: The Madagascan endemic, Bryophyllum delagoense (Crassulaceae), is a major weed in Queensland, Australia. Despite having first been recorded in Australia in the 1940s, it is far more invasive there than on the African mainland where it was introduced more than 170 years ago. This may be due to a number of factors, one of which could be the occurrence of new natural enemy associations in southern Africa. Among the insects of crassulaceous plants that have extended their host ranges, a stem-boring weevil, Alcidodes sedi, was studied to elucidate its status as a natural enemy of B. delagoense in southern Africa and as a candidate biological control agent for introduction to Australia. Laboratory studies indicated that damage inflicted by adult and larval feeding caused significant reductions in stem length and number of leaves. Preliminary host-range trials revealed that A. sedi can complete its development on other species in the Crassulaceae, including most of the introduced Bryophyllum species and some Kalanchoe species native to South Africa. Despite the oligophagous nature of A. sedi and the fact that it can complete its development on a number of ornamental species in the Crassulaceae, it should be considered a potential biological control agent in Australia. All of the native Crassulaceae in Australia are in the genus Crassula, most of which are very small and therefore unlikely to support the development of a large weevil like A. sedi. However, additional host-range trials will have to be undertaken in Australia to determine whether the weevil can be considered safe for release.
Abstract: That Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), a grievous alien invasive species, has established in southern Africa and is spreading though the region is presently not well known outside South Africa. The first known record for the region is a capture from 2001. Establishment is hypothesised to have taken place in the south-western part of the Western Cape Province. The geographic spread of the insect through southern Africa has been recorded since 2006 and retrospectively, with information largely obtained through citizen science. Until the end of 2009, the beetle has spread widely through the more temperate southern and higher-lying eastern and east-central parts of South Africa, and has also been recorded from Lesotho. In 2009 it has additionally been recorded from localities in the hotter, drier interior of South Africa for the first time. The invader has been found in a large variety of natural and transformed landscapes and habitats. The ecological effects it may exert may ultimately be unknowable because of the absence of baseline information on coccinellid community ecology in southern Africa.
