Biocontrol Lab

The University of Rhode Island Biological Control Lab, a USDA approved Quarantine Facility, is located at the end of the University’s greenhouse complex at the corner of Upper College Rd. and Flagg Rd. in Kingston. The facility was funded primarily by a 1990 Champlin Foundations grant. Three faculty entomologists at the University: Richard Casagrande, Patrick Logan, and Roger LeBrun use the laboratory as a quarantine facility for newly imported exotic biological control agents, and also as a rearing and research facility for biological control agents that have already cleared USDA quarantine requirements.

Lily Leaf Beetle Biological Control Survey 2013

If you grow lilies in New England, and have lily leaf beetles feeding on them, the University of Rhode Island would like your help. The University of Rhode Island (URI) Biological Control Lab is researching natural enemies of the lily leaf beetle. Small parasitic insects were established in lily plots in Cumberland, RI, and Wellesley, MA. URI would like to track these parasitic insects by collecting the large larvae covered with excrement (brown blobs) that you find on your lilies. They will dissect the larvae to look for the parasitic insects. If you have larvae in your yard, and wouldn’t mind sending them to URI please use the following instructions to send them to Lisa Tewksbury at the URI Department of Plant Sciences or contact her for more information. [Click Here for Instructions]

Lily Leaf Beetle Photo ID Guide

URI Lily Leaf Beetle Fact Sheet