Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #415825
Research Project: Systematics of Beetles, Flies, Moths and Wasps with an Emphasis on Agricultural Pests, Invasive Species, Biological Control Agents, and Food Security

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: New evidence on the distribution of a weed biological control agent Orphanostigma haemorrhoidalis (Crambidae) for the control of Lantana camara (Verbenacae) using DNA barcodes and citizen science images

Author
item COCK, MATTHEW - Centre For Agriculture & Biosciences International (CABI)
item DAY, MICHAEL - Department Of Agriculture And Fisheries
item Solis, Maria

Submitted to: CABI Agriculture and Bioscience (CABI A&B)
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/24/2024
Publication Date: 2/7/2025
Citation: Cock, M.J., Day, M.D., Solis, M.A. 2025. New evidence on the distribution of a weed biological control agent Orphanostigma haemorrhoidalis (Crambidae) for the control of Lantana camara (Verbenacae) using DNA barcodes and citizen science images. CABI Agriculture and Bioscience (CABI A&B). 6:1-10. https://doi.org/10.1079/ab.2025.0010.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1079/ab.2025.0010

Interpretive Summary: Lantana is considered a major weed in over 60 countries and considered one of the 100 worst invasive species on the planet, although it is grown as a garden and ornamental plant. It is a noxious weed that displaces native plants in forests, orchards, and pastures, provides understory fuel during forest fires, and is toxic to animals. The Lantana leafroller was introduced worldwide for the natural biological control of lantana. DNA barcodes and citizen scientist images from the iNaturalist and Afromoths websites were used to detect the establishment and spread of the Lantana leafroller in countries where it has not previously been reported. Analysis of DNA barcodes showed that there are two genetically distinguishable populations of Lantana leafroller in the Americas, one in south-eastern USA and the other widespread in the rest of the Neotropics. Biological control workers and biologists will use this knowledge for the biological control of lantana worldwide.

Technical Abstract: Orphanostigma haemorrhoidalis (Guenée) (Lepidoptera, Crambidae), indigenous to the Americas, was widely used in the Old World for the biological control of Lantana camara L. (Verbenaceae) from the 1950s to the 1980s. DNA barcodes from the Barcode of Life Data System (BOLD) and citizen scientist images from the iNaturalist and Afromoths websites were used to detect the establishment and spread of O. haemorrhoidalis in countries where it has not previously been reported. Analysis of DNA barcodes showed that there are two genetically distinguishable populations of O. haemorrhoidalis in the Americas, one in south-eastern USA and the other widespread in the rest of the Neotropics. The two populations were introduced into different parts of the World and subsequently spread. We used DNA barcodes from BOLD to clarify that a population from Florida is established in Hawaii, Australia and Fiji, while a population from Trinidad is established in parts of mainland Africa (including new records for Cameroon, Nigeria and Ghana), Madagascar, Mauritius and La Réunion. New country records for O. haemorrhoidalis were established from iNaturalist images from Eswatini, Kenya, and Mozambique, and from Afromoths for Tanzania.