Ragwort flea beetle established for biological control of tansy ragwort in Northern California

THE RAGWORT FLEA BEETLE, an insect from Europe that attacks the root crowns of tansy ragwort, Senecio jacobaea L., has been released near Fort Bragg and at Smith River, California. This insect, Longitarsus jacobaeae (Waterhouse), will supplement the earlier liberations by the Biological Control of weeds Investigations Laboratory, ARS, USDA, Albany of two other insects: the cinnabar moth, Tyria jacobaeae (L.), which feeds on the foliage, and the seed head fly, Hylemya seneciella (Meade), which attacks the seed in the flower heads (california agriculture, December 1969).