Israeli scientists fight to save iconic Sabra prickly pear from devastating pest The Times of Israel
Israeli scientists appear to be winning the war — or at least holding the fort — against an insect that has been decimating the iconic prickly pear cactus in northern Israel.
A team working under entomologist Prof. Zvika Mendel at the Volcani Center Agricultural Research Organization has been dispatching armies of predatory beetles and flies to devour a destructive scale insect, Dactylopius opuntiae.