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Opuntia monacantha (Cochineal prickly pear,
Drooping prickly pear)
[= Opuntia vulgaris]
Suurturksvy, Luisiesturksvy
[Afrikaans]
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:
Opuntia
Native to Central America. A
declared Category 1
invasive plants in South Africa.
Ecological interactions in southern Africa
Herbivores
-
Cactoblastis cactorum (Lepidoptera:
Pyralidae:
Phycitinae).
The orange and black striped larvae of this moth eat the
parenchymous tissue inside the cladodes of a wide variety of
Opuntia species, including Opuntia monacantha. It was
introduced to South Africa in 1933 for the biological control of
Opuntia ficus-indica.
-
Dactylopius ceylonicus (Hemiptera:
Dactylopiidae). Released in South Africa in 1913 for
the biological control of Opuntia monacantha (then called
Opuntia vulgaris), causing extensive damage (Klein 2011).
Dactylopius species are
collectively known as cochineal insects and are all
characterised by having vivid red body contents that from
Dactylopius coccus has been used for producing cochineal
dye. The females suck the juices from the cactus and are easily
noticed on the plant because of their untidy covering of waxy
filaments, looking rather like blobs of cotton wool.
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 |
