Greg Lefoe, invertebrate scientist for Victoria's Department of Primary Industries, recently traveled from Melbourne, Australia, to collect overwintering elm leaf beetles from a strategically parked Santa Margarita horse trailer. Thousands (the exact number isn't known yet) of ELBs made the trip back to Australia and are now going through quarantine. Why in the world would Australians want our pesky ELBs?

Amazingly enough, many of our overwintering adult ELBs contain the larvae of a little fly, Erynniopsis antennata, which is a natural enemy of the ELB. These beneficial insects are being used in biological control efforts initiated by the late Dr. Donald Dahlsten, UC Berkeley professor of forest entomology.

It is hoped that Santa Margarita's most infamous beetles will yield a worthwhile number of the "good guy" parasitoid fly to support population establishment in Melbourne. The beetles really made us work this year as they were scattered in small pockets throughout the horse trailer. Snagging 9,000 last year and 16,000 in 2001 was comparatively easy! In addition to Greg and his wife Barb, hunt participants included Buffy Doran, Bev Gingg and Nick Yost (who provided the horse trailer aka beetle condo).