Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieberstein) Cavara & Grande, Garlic Mustard/Alliaire officinale (Brassicaceae)

摘要: Alliaria petiolata, garlic mustard, is a highly competitive invasive plant in North America that can colonize a diversity of habitats and negatively impacts native plant diversity. Garlic mustard is known to be an ‘oviposition sink’ for native insects, including the West Virginia white butterfly, Pieris virginiensis. Efforts to develop a biological control programme for garlic mustard started in 1998 and identified five weevils and one flea beetle that were found to offer good control. Of those, Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis was identified as the most promising agent for biological control and, after biological and host-specificity studies, it was permitted for release in the United States in 2017 and in Canada in 2018. The chapter reviews the biological and host-specificity testing and the current status of the release programme for Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis in Canada.