Assessment of the suitability of Plagiohammus spinipennis (Thoms.) (Col., Cerambycidae) as an agent for control of weeds of the genus Lantana (Verbenaceae). II. Host specificity

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Abstract
Results are presented of a study of the host specificity of Plagiohammus spinipennis (Thorns.) under conditions that emphasised the behaviour of the insect in the field in the presence of an abundance of its host-plant, Lantana cantata. The results of this and previous studies are compared.The adult beetles fed on various test plants but had little or no deleterious effect. Oviposition was restricted to the insect’s normal host, L. camara, and to Cordia ambigua, G. grandiflora, G. curassavica, Lippia umbellata, Lippia sp. (? miocephala), Tectona grandis and Vernonia deppeana. Of these, only T. grandis is of commercial importance. Larvae were unable to complete their development on this plant and died after feeding briefly. Development by larvae of P. spinipennis was restricted to a small group of mostly related, unimportant plant species as well as the serious weed L. camara.P. spinipennis thus shows a high degree of host specificity, and was therefore liberated for control of Lantana camara in Australia in 1967.