Van Steenderen, C.J.M., Paterson, I.D., Edwards, S., & Day, M.D. 2021 Addressing the red flags in cochineal identification: The use of molecular techniques to identify cochineal insects that are used as biological control agents for invasive alien cacti. Biological Control 152: 104426

Keywords:

biological control

molecular data

Notes: Effective control relies on selecting the correct species, or in some cases, the most effective intraspecific lineage, of cochineal for the target cactus species. Many of the Dactylopius species are so morphologically similar, and in the case of intraspecific lineages, identical, that numerous misidentifications have been made in the past. This study aimed to generate a multi-locus genetic database to enable the accurate identification of dactylopiids