2014/12/01 by K. Patrick, Kirsten Patrick, T. Olckers
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Allelopathy and phytotoxic interactions #Biological Control of Invasive Species #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
paper · doi:10.4001/003.022.0423
openalex publication_date 2014/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27
Solanum mauritianum Scop. (bugweed, woolly nightshade; Solanaceae), a small perennial tree from South America, is a major environmental weed in South Africa and elsewhere in the world (see review by Olckers 2011). Bugweed populations persist in a variety of habitats in South Africa, ranging from sunny, exposed habitats (e.g. grasslands, savanna and roadsides) to partially shaded and fully shaded habitats (e.g. forest/plantation margins and understoreys, respectively). The lace bug Gargaphia decoris Drake (Hemiptera: Tingidae) was released in South Africa in 1999, and later in New Zealand in 2010, for the biological control of S. mauritianum (Olckers 2000, 2011; Olckers & Borea 2009). As is typical of lace bugs (e.g. Buntin et al. 1996), high levels of sap-sucking by the adults and nymphs can reduce the plant's growth rate as a result of leaf chlorosis, reduced rates of photosynthesis and transpiration, as well as premature leaf abscission.