Hairy Beetle Attacks Noxious Weed

Sat., July 10, 1999

From Staff

Wildlife officials are hoping a hairy beetle will help take a bite out of the yellow starthistle, a prickly weed that’s edging out native grasses throughout southern Oregon.

“It’s happening slowly, but I’m starting to see small areas where there are not as many starthistles as there used to be,” said Barbara Mumblo, a botanist for the Applegate Ranger District who has been leading the battle against the noxious weed.

Cause of the decrease: The yellow starthistle hairy weevil, which munches on starthistle seeds.

The bugs were let loose on patches of starthistle in southern Oregon four years ago.

“We release a small amount - about 100 at each site - so it takes a while for the population to build up,” Mumblo said.

What the weevil and the weed have in common is their roots in the Mediterranean region. While starthistle was unintentionally introduced shortly after the turn of the century, the hairy weevils were brought in on purpose to check the invasion.

“Starthistle got over here and didn’t have any predators,” Mumblo said, adding that the hairy weevil was its nemesis back in Greece.

Yellow starthistle offers virtually no forage for animals and can even be poisonous to livestock. If ingested by horses, its chemical content can cause brain damage.

It also spreads rapidly, covering more than 200,000 acres since its introduction.

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