Data from: Inadvertent biological control: an Australian thrips killing an invasive New Zealand tree in California

Transport hubs of international trade and tourism are sites of
unprecedented long-distance dispersal of species and novel ecological
interactions. In cases of invasive plants released from their specialist
natural enemies, novel interactions with both resident enemies and new
arrivals can accumulate and potentially reduce weed competitiveness. I
present here one dramatic example of this, where an invasive woody weed in
southern California is being rapidly controlled by an accidentally
introduced genus-specialist herbivorous insect. The New Zealand native
shrub/small tree, Myoporum laetum, is a long-time popular ornamental plant
in California and has become an invasive woody weed. In 2005, a
Myoporum-specific thrips, Klambothrips myopori, was discovered (and
described) in California feeding on M. laetum leaves. Several searches
have failed to find K. myopori in New Zealand and a population has
recently been discovered in Tasmania, Australia, feeding on Myoporum
insulare. In 5 years, K. myopori has killed off about half of southern
Californian M. laetum with almost all surviving individuals being
gradually defoliated. Inadequate border biosecurity has resulted in
inadvertent biological control, in a rapid timeframe, caused by a novel
enemy. Unfortunately, K. myopori has subsequently been accidentally
transported from California to Hawaii where it is now killing off Hawaiian
native Myoporum sandwicense. Transport hubs can both connect weeds with
natural enemies and disperse those enemies more widely.