Chaetorellia succinea

Chaetorellia succinea is a species of tephritid fruit fly that was accidentally released in 1991 into the United States and had since become one of the major biological pest controls against the noxious weed yellow starthistle (Centaurea solstitialis).

Chaetorellia succinea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Family:	Tephritidae
Genus:	Chaetorellia
Species:	C. succinea
Binomial name
Chaetorellia succinea (Costa, 1844)

It was not released intentionally for fears that it could become a pest of safflower, Carthamus tinctorius L. It was probably introduced from a shipment of yellow starthistle heads from Greece.[1]

C. succinea has also been found to feed on two other introduced Centaurea species (Maltese starthistle, Centaurea melitensis L.; Sicilian starthistle, Centaurea sulphurea Willd.) and the Native American starthistle (Centaurea americana) Nutt.[2]

C. succinea probably displaces another biocontrol fly, Chaetorellia australis, where the two co-occur.[3]

References

1. Joe K. Balciunas and Baldo Villegas. "Unintentionally Released Chaetorellia succinea (Diptera: Tephritidae): Is This Natural Enemy of Yellow Starthistle a Threat to Safflower Growers?" (PDF). Environ. Entomol. 30(5): 953Ð963 (2001). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2009-12-18.
2. Balciunas, J. K. and B. Villegas. 2007. Laboratory and realized host ranges of Chaetorellia succinea (Diptera: Tephritidae), an unintentionally introduced natural enemy of yellow starthistle. Environ. Entomol. 36:849-857.
3. Brianna Goehring (2009). "The effects of targeted grazing of yellow starthistle by domestic goats in Northern Idaho and an examination of seed survival in the ruminant digestive tract" (PDF). University of Idaho. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-01.

• Coombs, E. M., et al., Eds. (2004). Biological Control of Invasive Plants in the United States. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 425.