Exotic Invasives in Asia

[John Grehan]

Liz Day  wrote

>I didn't realize the monarch was an exotic pest anywhere.  It is?  How in
>the world did it get to the south Pacific??!
>
>And if the migratory one naturally invaded S. Am. on its own, can this
>really be called havoc?

The monarch has been in the south pacific for a long time. In New Zealand
it never
established until European colonists introduced one of the host-plants
(called swan plant, but I don't know the scientific name), presumably
sometime in the 1800's. Its not a pest in New Zealand so far as I am aware.

Sincerely, John Grehan