Jan writes:
If the beetles are Neochetina, then they are already in Florida. They were
introduced in the 1970s. You can read about them here:
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/weedfeeders/neochetina.html
The beetles are very tiny but evidence of their mining is pretty obvious on
plants. To my knowledge, they are extremely host-specific to water
hyacinth.
Thirty years ago I needed specimens for a student project and a biologist
with the state of Florida was kind enough to send me some pinned specimens.
A few weeks ago, I re-discovered those specimens and they are still in good
shape.
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