Biocontrol introduction
Target pest: Ageratina adenophora (Asterales: Asteraceae), Mexican devil weed
Agent introduced: Pseudocercospora eupatorii (Capnodiales: Mycosphaerellaceae) = Cercospora eupatorii
General comments:
A fungus causing leaf spots on A. adenophora was first recorded in New Zealand in 1962, but it was probably introduced from Queensland, Australia along with the biocontrol agent Procecidochares utilis (a tephritid fly introduced against A. adenophora) in 1958 (Cameron et al. (1989). This fungus at the time was misidentified as Cercospora eupatorii (Crous et al. (2009), a taxon subsequently renamed Pseudocercospora eupatorii (Braun & Castañeda-Ruiz 1991). The fungus causing the leaf spots on A. adenophora in New Zealand was described in 2009 as Passalora ageratinae (Crous et al. (2009), and subsequently renamed Ragnhildiana perfoliati (Videira et al. 2017).
See the Ragnhildiana perfoliati introduction record for details of this fungus as a biocontrol of A. adenophora.
References
Braun U, Castañeda-Ruiz RF (1991). Cercospora and allied genera of Cuba (II). Cryptogamic Botany 2(2-3): 289-297 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255701229_Cercospora_and_allied_genera_of_Cuba_II
Cameron PJ, Hill RL, Bain J, Thomas WP (1989). A Review of Biological Control of Invertebrate Pests and Weeds in New Zealand 1874-1987. Technical Communication No 10. CAB International Institute of Biological Control. DSIR Entomology Division. 424p.
Crous PW, Schoch CL, Hyde KD, Wood AR, Gueidan C, De Hoog GS, Groenewald JZ (2009). Phylogenetic lineages in the Capnodiales. Studies in Mycology 64(1): 17-47 https://doi.org/10.3114/sim.2009.64.02
Videira SIR, Groenewald JZ, Nakashima C, Braun U, Barreto RW, de Wit PJGM, Crous PW (2017). Mycosphaerellaceae - chaos or clarity? Studies in Mycology 87: 257-421 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.simyco.2017.09.003
