Maile Pilau [Paederia foetida L.]

The Skunk Vine Biocontrol Project is a collaborative effort between the HDOA Plant Pest Control Branch and the USDA-ARS Invasive Plant Research Laboratory (IPRL) in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. During FY 06, IPRL researchers informed the PPC Branch that a new IPRL quarantine facility was being built and that this activity would delay their efforts to collect and ship natural enemies of skunk vine (maile pilau) from Nepal and Thailand.  Also, political unrest in Nepal has impacted the greatly anticipated collection and shipment of a highly promising metallic green, leaf-feeding chrysomelid beetle to the HDOA Insect Quarantine Facility for colonization and testing. The larvae of this beetle also feed on the foliage. Studies of another chrysomelid beetle, whose larvae feed on the roots, are still being conducted at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan.