Natural pest control saves coffee berry
There is good news for coffee lovers and growers worldwide: A predator for the devastating coffee berry borer has just been discovered in Africa. Looking at coffee berries in Western Kenya, Dr Juliana Jaramillo from the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya, Dr Eric Chapman from the University of Kentucky, and colleagues have identified a previously unknown predatory thrips - Karnyothrips flavipes - which feeds on the eggs and larvae of the coffee berry borer Hypothenemus hampei. According to the authors, this discovery could have important implications for the management of the coffee berry borer throughout the world. Their study, the first to quantitatively prove predation on the coffee berry borer, is published online in Springer's journal Naturwissenschaften - The Science of Nature. Previous studies were based on mere observations, for example of ants preying on the coffee berry borer...