Beetles to eat Cook Islands invaders

Damage done two days after the beetles' release.

Mon, 14 Jun 2021

The days of one of the world’s most invasive alien species may be numbered in the Cook Islands now African tulip tree flea beetles are finally out of quarantine.The beetles (pictured below) are a natural enemy being used for the first time in the Pacific islands to try to reduce the spread and density of the invasive African tulip tree.The tree is considered one of the 100 worst alien invasive species in the world and one of the top 30 invasive plants.“Weeds, like the African Tulip Leaf tree, are a particularly problematic subset wi...

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