de Souza, N.R., & Hoffman, J.H. 2015 Testing the hypothesis that a cochineal insect species (Hemiptera: Dactylopiidae) may have been displaced by a congeneric biological control agent from a different cactus host. Biological Control 85: 25-29
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Notes: Dactylopius opuntiae is oligophagous which has led to allegations that it has competitively displaced D. ceylonicus on Opuntia monacantha in South Africa. An investigation into this supposition showed that D. ceylonicus is still present at all of the seven sites where O. monacantha was monitored and that D. opuntiae was not found to occur on O. monacantha at any of the sites.
