1a.Objectives (from AD-416)
To search for, identify, evaluate and prioritize potential biological control agents for use against weeds of Australiaian and Southeast Asian origin, with emphasis on weeds that are invasive to South Florida.

1b.Approach (from AD-416)
Target weeds include Melaleuca quinquenervia, Lygodium microphyllum, Casuarina spp., and other weeds endemic to Australia and Southeast Asia. Natural enemies will be identified by searching the literature and museum collections and by original field surveys. Candidate biological control agents will be evaluated in the laboratory and field. Prioritization of candidates will be based upon host range, as well as biological and ecological studies, according to published criteria and in consultation with the ADODR. Candidates deemed most promising for use against weeds invasive to the U.S. will be shipped to appropriate Stateside quarantine facilities. All programmatic changes must be approved in advance by NPS.

3.Progress Report
This report serves to document research conducted under a cooperative agreement between the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation(CSIRO) and USDA-ARS. This research is part of the mission of the ARS Australian Biological Control Laboratory (ABCL)in Brisbane to conduct foreign exploration for biological control agents of weeds native to Australia and Southeast Asia which have become serious weeds in the US. Research on the Australian paperbark tree, Melaleuca quinquenervia, continued to focus on developing new rearing protocols for the bud-feeding weevil Haplonyx multicolor. Survival rates within the laboratory colony are improving through development of new rearing techniques. Further collections of H. multicolor have been made across Northern Australia on several Melaleuca species to: supplement the laboratory colony; provide overseas shipments to stateside quarantine; determine the genetic variation across broad-leaved Melaleuca species. Several shipments of this weevil have been made to the Gainesville quarantine facility where a small colony is being established for host range testing. Colonies of the cecidomyiid gall-formers, Lophodiplosis trifida and L. indentata are being maintained at ABCL for further evaluation and supplementing shipments to U.S. quarantine. Multiple shipments of Melaleuca galls formed by the fly Fergusonina turneri were sent to the Invasive Plant Research Laboratory (IPRL) in Fort Lauderdale to assist with field releases throughout winter in Florida, though emergence of adult flies has been minimal. Field host-range surveys were completed on the Melaleuca leaf-binding moth Poliopaschia lithochlora. Research efforts on the climbing fern Lygodium microphyllum focused on a lepidopteran stem borer from Singapore. Larval rearing has been problematic and any further success is reliant on culturing plants with thicker stems or developing an artificial diet. A new borer was discovered on L. microphyllum in Hong Kong which appears to develop in thinner stems and could be more suitable for rearing and testing. The Lygodium mite, Floracarus perrepae, has been approved for release in the U.S. Several mite shipments from an ABCL laboratory culture have been sent to the IPRL quarantine in preparation for field releases in Florida. Shipments of the Lygodium flea beetle were also sent to U.S. quarantine from Thailand for culturing and testing. The defoliating pyralid moth, Lygomusotima stria, collected from L. microphyllum in Singapore, is being evaluated in ABCL quarantine. Preliminary surveys for biological control agents of Casuarina spp. continue and a project has been approved to investigate the evolutionary associations between Casuarina spp. and its insectivorous herbivores. Field host range and development studies are planned for the Casuarina torymid cone wasp, Bootanelleus orientalis.