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Putting the "bite" on Melaleuca

Aussie Weevil Opens Attack on Rampant Melaleuca

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The Melaleuca Sap Sucker

There's a new plant-eating bug in Florida. And fortunately, its diet is exclusively the invasive Melaleuca plant. Scientists recently released the Melaleuca Sap Sucking Psyllid in Everglades National Park. Susan Wineriter is a biological scientist....

Scientists are fighting the spread of the harmful Melaleuca tree in Florida with a tiny bug about the size of a gnat, that feeds on Melaleuca sap. Biological scientist Susan Wineriter says it was a matter of making friends with the Melaleuca enemies...

The Melaleuca tree has become an invasive species in Florida, taking over whole forests or wetland areas and crowding out native plants and animals. But in Australia, where the plant is from, it's not a problem at all. Biological scientist Susan Wineriter describes Melaleuca growth in Florida...

The recent release of a tiny bug called the Melaleuca Sap Sucking Psyllid marks the second bug released in a war on the invasive Australian Melaleuca tree. Back in 1997, the Melaleuca Snout Beetle was set loose to fight the trees spread. And, says biological scientist Susan Wineriter, the beetle is working...

Scientists have bred and released a new, gnat-sized bug to fight the spread of the Melaleuca tree in Florida. The invasive paper-skinned tree has infested more than 500,000 acres in Florida--many of them wetlands. The new bug--dubbed the Sap Sucking Psyllid--joins a weevil species released several years ago. Biological scientist Susan Wineriter...