| Larvae of the butterfly Erionota thrax, the banana skipper, destroy the leaves of bananas by eating them and forming massive protective rolls of leaf tissue. They were first observed in north-western Papua New Guinea in 1983 and over the next 6 years spread throughout the mainland at the rate of up to 500 km/year. E. thrax has also spread across the ocean to the east, to invade New Britain, Duke of York and New Ireland islands, and possibly Bougainville. As the banana skipper spread, it destroyed an average of some 60% of banana leaves, leading to both a serious delay in fruit maturation and reduced weight of banana bunches. Previous successful biological control of E. thrax when it invaded Mauritius, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan encouraged Papua New Guinea... |
