Check List 12(1): e19439, doi: 10.15560/12.1.1837
Recent spread of the Sida Leafbeetle, Calligrapha pantherina Stål, 1859 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Chrysomelinae) in New Caledonia
expand article infoChristian Gilbert Mille‡, Frédéric Rigault§, Sylvie Cazeres|, Hervé Jourdan§
‡ Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien (IAC) « Connaissance et Amélioration des Agrosystèmes », New Caledonia (Fr)§ Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d’Écologie marine et continentale (IMBE), Aix-Marseille Université, UMR CNRS IRD Avignon Université, UMR 237 IRD, Centre IRD Nouméa, New Caledonia (Fr)| Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien (IAC), New Caledonia (Fr)

Corresponding author: Christian Mille ( mille@iac.nc )

© 2017 Christian Mille, Frédéric Rigault, Sylvie Cazeres, Hervé Jourdan.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: MILLE C, Cazeres S, Rigault F, Jourdan H (2016) Recent spread of the Sida Leafbeetle, Calligrapha pantherina Stål, 1859 (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Chrysomelinae) in New Caledonia. Check List 12(1): 1837. https://doi.org/10.15560/12.1.1837
Open Access
Abstract
We report the recent arrival and subsequent spread of the Sida Leafbeetle, Calligrapha pantherina Stål, 1859, in the archipelago of New Caledonia. The species seems to have a rapid spread as it is now recorded all along the west coast and also have spread to the Loyalty Islands. The first specimen was caught in November 2012. This is a biocontrol agent which was introduced in the Pacific Region against invasive Malvaceae (Sida spp.). This accidental arrival would help to control the alien weed, Sida acuta Burm. f., in New Caledonia. But this establishment raises some questions about potential threats on the two endemic New Caledonian Sida species. We also discuss this arrival and subsequent installation in the context of global change and biosecurity issues, particularly in such a biodiversity hotspot.
Keywords
biological invasion, biocontrol agent, biosecurity, weed control