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Hadroplontus litura
Canada thistle stem weevil, minute seed weevil
Hadroplontus litura is a stem-mining weevil in the family Curculionidae, widely known as the Canada thistle stem weevil. It is an endophagous herbivore that develops within the stems of its host plants. The species has been investigated extensively as a biological control agent for the invasive weed Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense). Research indicates it can complete its life cycle on multiple Cirsium species, including five native thistle species in the upper Midwest of North America, raising concerns about non-target impacts on native flora.
biological-control invasive-species non-target-risk stem-miner Curculionidae Cirsium Canada-thistle phenology weed-biological-control endophagous-herbivore
Narnia femorata
Leaf-footed Cactus Bug
Narnia femorata is a leaf-footed bug (Coreidae) native to the southern United States and Central America. The species was introduced to Florida in the 1960s via nursery stock and is now fully established. It feeds primarily on cactus fruit, especially Opuntia species, using a long tube-like beak. Males possess enlarged, spiny hind femora used as weapons in male-male combat for territories on cactus pads bearing fruit. The species exhibits pronounced phenotypic plasticity, with body size, weapon size, and beak length changing seasonally in response to host plant fruit availability. Populations have been documented utilizing Cirsium thistle as an alternative host, representing a recent host range expansion.
Coreidae leaf-footed-bug cactus-specialist sexual-selection phenotypic-plasticity host-range-expansion Florida-introduced-species male-male-combat weapon-polymorphism phenology Opuntia Cirsium thistle bivoltine overwintering-adult
Paracantha gentilis
Paracantha gentilis is a tephritid fruit fly species described by Hering in 1940 from Wyoming specimens. The species has a complex taxonomic history, with several taxa described by Malloch in 1941 (mimetica, mimetica elongata, mexicana) and Aczél in 1953 (sobrina) later synonymized under P. gentilis when wing pattern variation proved continuous rather than discrete. It is the first Tephritidae species in which the median oral lobe of larvae was described, a character now known to be shared by all non-frugivorous Tephritinae. The species exhibits a bivoltine life cycle with distinct behavioral and morphological adaptations for exploiting Cirsium thistle flowerheads.
Tephritidae fruit-fly Cirsium thistle bivoltine flowerhead-feeder non-gall-forming western-North-America median-oral-lobe territorial-behavior trophallaxis
Trichosirocalus
rosette weevils, crown weevils
A genus of small true weevils native to the Palearctic region. Several species have been widely introduced to North America, Australia, and New Zealand as biological control agents for invasive thistles. The genus was historically treated as containing a single species, T. horridus, but integrative taxonomic studies using molecular and morphological data have revealed multiple distinct species with different host associations.
weevil biological-control thistle invasive-species-management Ceutorhynchinae rosette-feeder Ceutorhynchini Baridinae taxonomic-revision classical-biological-control Carduus Cirsium Onopordum Palearctic-native introduced-species molecular-systematics integrative-taxonomy univoltine leaf-miner agricultural-pest-control pasture-weed-management species-complex host-specificity musk-thistle plumeless-thistle Scotch-thistle Illyrian-thistle welted-thistle Italian-thistle crown-weevil rosette-weevil oviposition-behavior overwintering egg-stage larval-stage adult-stage decaying-organic-matter soil-surface non-photosynthetic-leaves green-leaves leaf-midribs petioles leaf-mining notching-damage rosette-survival flowering-stem-reduction seed-production-reduction rosette-mortality population-density-effects mark-recapture dispersal-patterns artificial-diet-rearing laboratory-culture vitamin-supplementation lyophilized-thistle-roots ergosterol casein-hydrolysate 7-dehydrocholesterol sucrose larval-survival adult-longevity oviposition female-fecundity field-cage-experiments individual-cage-experiments growth-parameter-reduction pre-release-host-specificity-testing post-release-monitoring establishment-success range-expansion forested-areas agricultural-land pasture small-farms crops disturbed-habitats meadows dense-patches rosette-size-preference spatial-distribution selective-oviposition autumn-egg-laying winter-larval-development spring-pupation late-summer-adult-emergence soil-overwintering plant-debris-overwintering rachis leaf-dissection destructive-sampling non-destructive-sampling sampling-bias life-stage-detection established-populations mitochondrial-COI nuclear-EF-1α morphological-characters host-plant-associations synonymy species-validity introduction-history release-records establishment-records Old-World-native New-World-introduction Southern-Hemisphere-introduction Australia New-Zealand North-America Virginia Southwest-Virginia Europe Spain France Germany Italy Switzerland Austria Scandinavia Denmark Norway Sweden Colonnelli-1979 Panzer-1801 Alonso-Zarazaga-&-Sánchez-Ruiz-2002 Ceutorhynchinae-vs-Baridinae subfamily-placement tribe-placement true-weevils Curculionidae Coleoptera Insecta Arthropoda Animalia 882-iNaturalist-observations GBIF-records Catalogue-of-Life-accepted NCBI-Taxonomy Bulletin-of-Entomological-Research Journal-of-Applied-Ecology Journal-of-Entomological-Science Annals-of-the-Entomological-Society-of-America Environmental-Entomology DOI-10.1017/s000748531500084x DOI-10.1046/j.1365-2664.2002.00747.x DOI-10.18474/0749-8004-22.4.324 DOI-10.18474/0749-8004-22.4.330 DOI-10.18474/0749-8004-24.4.465 DOI-10.1093/aesa/73.6.694 DOI-10.1093/ee/10.5.691