Cylindropuntia leptocaulis (Desert Christmas cactus, Pencil cholla)

Life > eukaryotes > Archaeoplastida > Chloroplastida > Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants) > Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants) > Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering plants) > Core Eudicots > Order: Caryophyllales > Familty: Cactaceae > Genus: Cylindropuntia

Native to southwestern USA and northern Mexico. Naturalised in southern Africa. It has been brought under complete biological control by Dactylopius tomentosus, a cochineal bug.

Ecological interactions in southern Africa

Herbivores

• Dactylopius tomentosus (Hemiptera: Dactylopiidae). A cladode sucking cochineal bug. The 'imbricata' biotype was released in South Africa in 1970 against Cylindropuntia imbricata and has also caused considerable damage to Cylindropuntia leptocaulis (Klein 2011).

Publications

• Klein H. 2011. A catalogue of the insects, mites and pathogens that have been used or rejected, or are under consideration, for the biological control of invasive alien plants in South Africa. African Entomology 19(2): 515-549.

Text by Hamish Robertson