University of Idaho entomologists have successfully established five insects in the Clearwater, Salmon, and Snake River Canyons that feed on the seed heads of the noxious and encroaching weed yellow starthistle. One of these biological control agents, a weevil called Bangasternus orientalis, now forms a biological barrier on the leading edge of the yellow starthistle infestation at the Idaho-Washington border. The Whitman County (Wash.) Weed Board agreed to allow a 50-foot herbicide spray border, backed by a biological barrier of weevils, in place of a 500-foot herbicide spray border.
For More Information
Joseph P. McCaffrey, entomologist
University of Idaho
Plant, Soil, and Entomological Sciences
Moscow, ID 8344-2339
Telephone: 208-885-7548
Fax: 208-885-7760
E-mail: jmccaffrey@uidaho.edu
Comments to Web Master: Sherri Frederick
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Page Updated: June 8, 1998.