Citrus-Leaf-Eating Butterfly Knocking On Our Door
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — An Asian butterfly known for ravaging the leaves of young citrus trees has spread from the Dominican Republic to other Caribbean islands and could soon strike fruit producers in Florida, agriculture experts said.
The lime swallowtail butterfly was spotted in the Dominican Republic three years ago — the first recorded sighting in the Western Hemisphere, said Brian Farrell, a Harvard biology professor who led the field study that found it.
The insect has since appeared in Jamaica and Puerto Rico, and U.S. officials are concerned it could next hop to the United States and threaten Florida's $9 billion citrus industry. U.S. officials have criticized the Dominican government for not trying to eradicate the butterfly.
"I don't think the (Dominican agriculture) ministry is doing anything. They don't see it as a problem," said Russell Duncan, of the U.S. Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in Santo Domingo.
U.S. officials worry the pest could be brought into the U.S. by a tourist or with illegally transported fruit. Known as a strong flier suited for island hopping in Asia, the butterfly might also manage the trip on its own.
It is not known how the butterflies reached the Caribbean, Farrell said.
Dominican officials say the butterfly problem is under control and there is no need for a widespread eradication campaign. "This isn't a big problem for us," said Damian Andujar, director of the Dominican Agriculture Ministry's fruit department.
The butterflies, distinguished by red and yellow wing markings and bright blue eyespots, have such a taste for citrus leaves that they often strip trees of all but their branches.
A year after they were discovered in the Dominican Republic, an infestation destroyed more than 4,000 young trees owned by produce giant Grupo Rica — 3 percent of its nursery stock, said Felipe Mendez, a company official.
Caterpillars ate every leaf on many of the trees they attacked, Mendez said. Damage to the company's orchards in the country's south has since been contained by workers trained to pick leaves at the first sign of butterfly eggs.
"We realized we had a natural enemy," Mendez said.
Workers in Jamaica also have been trying to kill the caterpillars by hand. An aerial spraying campaign has not been attempted for fear of damaging nearby beekeepers' hives, Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke told the Jamaica Observer.
(Source: AP)
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