Wasp may save Valley citrus

The Asian Cit­rus Psyl­lid is a tiny bug with the poten­tial of wip­ing out Cen­tral California’s 2 bil­lion dol­lar a year cit­rus indus­try. It’s already in the Los Ange­les basin. The bug is an inva­sive species and has no nat­ural ene­mies in Cal­i­for­nia. Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia researchers went to Pak­istan to find a preda­tory wasp called Tamar­ixia radi­ate. The baby wasps eat the Asian Cit­rus Psyl­lid. Since the wasps need a pop­u­la­tion of Asian Cit­rus Psyl­lids to sur­vive, they are not a use­ful tool in the Val­ley right now, but they could save our crops, should the Psyl­lid arrive.