Host testing of Eadya daenerys, a potential biological control agent for the invasive chrysomelid pest Paropsis charybdis, predicts host specificity to eucalypt-leaf feeding Paropsina

Host range testing of a larval endoparasitoid Eadya daenerys Ridenbaugh (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) was conducted. Eadya daenerys is most commonly associated with Paropsisterna agricola (Chapuis) in Australia, but is proposed as a biological control agent for Paropsis charybdis Stål (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in New Zealand. Nine species of non-target beetles with spring-active, external leaf-feeding larvae, were host tested. Development to emergence only occurred within eucalypt-feeding Paropsina pests: the target P. charybdis and another pest Trachymela sloanei (Blackburn). Unsuccessful internal parasitism occurred in four less closely related non-target Chrysomelinae. Considering the different feeding niches occupied by these beetles, we hypothesize that Eadya daenerys is unlikely to cause direct non-target impacts beyond pest Paropsina species in the New Zealand environment.