Arthropods associated with above-ground portions of the invasive tree, Melaleuca quinquenervia, in South Florida, USA

Melaleuca quinquenervia (Cav.) S. T. Blake, the broad-leaved paperbark tree, has invaded ca. 202,000 ha in Florida, including portions of the Everglades National Park. We performed prerelease surveys in south Florida to determine if native or accidentally introduced arthropods exploit this invasive plant species and assess the potential for higher trophic levels to interfere with the establishment and success of future biological control agents. Herein we quantify the abundance of arthropods present on the above-ground portions of saplings and small M. quinquenervia trees at four sites. Only eight of the 328 arthropods collected were observed feeding on M. quinquenervia. Among the arthropods collected in the plants adventive range, 19 species are agricultural or horticultural pests. The high percentage of rare species (72.0%), presumed to be transient or merely resting on the foliage, and the paucity of species observed feeding on the weed, suggests that future biological control agents will face little if any competition from pre-existing plant-feeding arthropods.