Prickly Poppies, Argemone corymbosa and A. munita, in Southern California—Native Weeds Attacked by Few Insects

Abstract

The prickly poppies, Argemone corymbosa Greene and A. munita Durand and Hilgard, are native spiny herbs in southern California, closely related to the “Mexican prickly poppy,” A. mexicana L., an important, pantropical, toxic, agricultural weed. Fifteen species of insects were found associated with A. corymbosa and A. munita . Most were ectophagous, sap- and foliage-feeding, rarely collected species. Two native stenophagous insects were well-adapted to A. munita at higher elevations. These insects were the geometrid defoliator, Neoterpes ephelidaria (Hulst), and the leaf-, crown-, and root-mining weevil, Sirocaulodes tescorum (Fall). We suggest that neither of these stenophagous species shows much promise as candidate agents for the biological control of the Mexican prickly poppy.