ABSTRACT
The wood-boring pest Sirex noctilio Fabricius (Hymenoptera: Siricidae) [1] is causing mortality along the heavily afforested eastern regions of South Africa, with recent reports indicating that mortality might be as high as 30% in some forestry compartments [2]. S. noctilio affects all commercial pine species in South Africa with none of the species showing a high resistance to attack [3]. Based on recent bioclimatic studies [4], the wasp is likely to spread farther north, where the majority of South Africa’s commercial pine forests are located (fig. 7.1). Map showing the distribution of pine (all commercial species) in South Africa. There are approximately 721,000 ha of commercial pine plantations, with plantations concentrated in Limpopo Province (3.9%), Western Cape (12.1%), Eastern Cape (14.6%), Kwazulu-Natal (25.4%), and Mpumalanga (44%) [<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="ref7_38">38</xref>]. See CD for color image. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429136702/0d25a739-54e8-4888-8bf6-05926ab1ce8e/content/fig7_1.tif"/>
