UCR: Research Team Led by UCR Entomologist Uses Tiny Wasp to Wipe Out Major Agricultural Pest in Tahiti

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A research team led by Mark Hoddle, a biological control specialist at UC Riverside, has nearly eradicated the glassy-winged sharpshooter, a major agricultural pest, from the island of Tahiti and several other French Polynesian islands in the South Pacific Ocean. To achieve total pest suppression, the researchers used biological control, an inexpensive method that provides permanent control and can be applied to areas where the sharpshooter has become a nuisance.