Determining the efficacy of visual inspections at detecting non-biosecurity-compliant goods.

Examination of imported commodities by trained inspectors searching for pest organisms is a common practice that phytosanitary regulatory agencies use to mitigate biosecurity risks along trade pathways. To investigate the effects of target size and color on the efficacy of these visual assessments, we affixed square decals to polystyrene models of mandarins. Sample units of 100 model fruit containing up to 10 marked models were examined by inspectors.

An 18-day, 3 °C cold treatment effectively kills Ceratitis capitata (Diptera: Tephritidae) in kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.).

A series of experiments were carried out to develop a phytosanitary disinfestation protocol to kill Ceratitis capitata (Weidemann) (Mediterranean fruit fly, Diptera: Tephritidae) in 'Hayward' kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C.

An Integrated Biosecurity Risk Assessment Model (IBRAM) For Evaluating the Risk of Import Pathways for the Establishment of Invasive Species.

An important aspect of analyzing the risk of unwanted organisms establishing in an area is understanding the pathways by which they arrive. Evaluating the risks of these pathways requires use of data from multiple sources, which frequently are uncertain. To address the needs of agencies responsible for biosecurity operations, we present an Integrated Biosecurity Risk Assessment Model (IBRAM) for evaluating the risk of establishment and dispersal of invasive species along trade pathways.

A new species of Proterhinus Sharp, 1878 (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea: Belidae) from Miti'aro, Cook Islands, South Pacific.

Proterhinus tauai Brown, new species is described from specimens collected on the island of Miti'aro in the Cook Islands, South Pacific. It differs from congeners by the combination of having a dorsal vestiture of decumbent brown clavate scales, lacking erect elongate setae, anterior pronotal angles projecting forwards, and having short antennae that do not reach the posterior margin of the pronotum. This species shows strong sexual dimorphism in the shape of the rostrum, with males having a large semicircular rostrum, compared with a stout subrectangular rostrum in females.

An annotated checklist of the Cook Islands psyllids with keys to the species and two new records (Hemiptera, Psylloidea).

An annotated checklist of the psyllids of the Cook Islands is presented. The presence of (Klyver, 1932) and Klyver, 1932 in the archipelago, based on new material collected, is reported for the first time. This is the first record from these islands of the genus and the family Liviidae.

Redescription of Brachyolus punctatus White, 1846 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae), with synonyms and lectotype designations.

The New Zealand entimine weevil species Brachyolus punctatus White, 1846 is redescribed, with the following new synonyms proposed: Brachyolus albescens Broun, 1903, Inophloeus breviusculus Broun, 1880, Brachyolus elegans Broun, 1893 and Brachyolus viridescens Broun, 1893.

, a new genus of broad-nosed weevil (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Entiminae) from montane areas of New Zealand.

is proposed for a group of eight New Zealand alpine broad-nosed weevil species, all of which are here described: (type locality: Umbrella Mountains, Central Otago), (type locality: Ohau Range, Mackenzie), (type locality: Old Man Range, Central Otago), (type locality: Hawkdun Range, Central Otago), (type locality: St Marys Range, Central Otago), (type locality: Kirkliston Range, South Canterbury), (type locality: Mt Dick, Otago Lakes) and (type locality: Old Man Range, Central Otago). All species occur exclusively above 1000 m elevation in the mountains of Central Otago and South Canterbury in the South Island. A phylogeny of the genus, including six outgroups, was inferred from 33 morphological characters.

A revision of the New Zealand weevil genus Irenimus Pascoe, 1876 (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Entiminae).

The taxonomy of the New Zealand weevil genus Irenimus Pascoe, 1876 is revised, resulting in a narrower concept of the genus than has been considered in recent decades. In total, the genus now contains only seven species. In addition to the type species, I.

Sliding window analyses for optimal selection of mini-barcodes, and application to 454-pyrosequencing for specimen identification from degraded DNA.

DNA barcoding remains a challenge when applied to diet analyses, ancient DNA studies, environmental DNA samples and, more generally, in any cases where DNA samples have not been adequately preserved. Because the size of the commonly used barcoding marker (COI) is over 600 base pairs (bp), amplification fails when the DNA molecule is degraded into smaller fragments. However, relevant information for specimen identification may not be evenly distributed along the barcoding region, and a shorter target can be sufficient for identification purposes.

Molecular phylogenetics of a South Pacific sap beetle species complex (Carpophilus spp., Coleoptera: Nitidulidae).

Several species of sap beetles in the genus Carpophilus are minor pests of fresh produce and stored products, and are frequently intercepted in biosecurity operations. In the South Pacific region, the superficially similar species C. maculatus and C.

Barcoding and border biosecurity: identifying cyprinid fishes in the aquarium trade.

Background: Poorly regulated international trade in ornamental fishes poses risks to both biodiversity and economic activity via invasive alien species and exotic pathogens. Border security officials need robust tools to confirm identifications, often requiring hard-to-obtain taxonomic literature and expertise. DNA barcoding offers a potentially attractive tool for quarantine inspection, but has yet to be scrutinised for aquarium fishes.

Spider: an R package for the analysis of species identity and evolution, with particular reference to DNA barcoding.

Spider: SPecies IDentity and Evolution in R is a new R package implementing a number of useful analyses for DNA barcoding studies and associated research into species delimitation and speciation. Included are functions essential for generating important summary statistics from DNA barcode data, assessing specimen identification efficacy, and for testing and optimizing divergence threshold limits. In terms of investigating evolutionary and taxonomic questions, techniques for assessing diagnostic nucleotides and probability of reciprocal monophyly are also provided.