Field host range of Apanteles opuntiarum (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in Argentina, a potential biocontrol agent of
Cactoblastis cactorum (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in North America.
The invasive cactus moth,
Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is native to Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern Brazil.
Stange y Stowe (1999) presentaron micrografias de sensilas contenidas en el Palp pit de
Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg, 1885) (Pyralidae), las que llamaron aplanadas (para nosotros, celoconicas) con su parte apical en forma de hoja; su longitud es 10 [micron]m, similar a las descritas en otras especies; la longitud en Prestonia es casi el doble.
Egg parasitoids attacking
Cactoblastis cactorum (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in North Florida.
A moth borer (
Cactoblastis cactorum) introduced from Argentina has controlled this invasive species.
By 1959, improvements in clearing and regrowth control and the successful introduction of
Cactoblastis cactorum to control prickly pear (Land Administration Commission 1968, 1978) led to the view that these lands had the greatest potential for primary production of any land in Queensland (Payne 1959; Skerman 1959).
The first biological control agent they introduced was the South American cactus moth (
Cactoblastis cactorum), which proved extremely effective in reducing the numbers of prickly pear cactus.
In the 1930s CSIR and partners used larvae from the north Argentinean moth
Cactoblastis cactorum to eradicate prickly pear, which had overrun millions of acres of farmland in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales.
It quickly ran wild, overtaking the Australian desert, but was eventually checked by the introduction of the
Cactoblastis, a cactus-hungry Mexican moth.