A new special issue of Florida Entomologist details how rapidly invasive arthropods are entering the southeast U.S. and highlights urgent needs in detection, diagnostics, and management—calling for stronger regional research to keep pace with accelerating biological threats. Here, images placed on the word “Invasive” were sourced from Ahmed et al. 2024, Journal of Integrated Pest Management, where individual image credits are provided. Additional invasive Diaspididae (armored scale insects) shown in the background are credited to Lyle Buss (University of Florida) and Zee Ahmed (Clemson University). (Image courtesy of Muhammad Z. “Zee” Ahmed, Ph.D.)

By Muhammad Z. “Zee” Ahmed, Ph.D.

Muhammad Z. “Zee” Ahmed, Ph.D.

The southeast United States has become one of the nation’s most active gateways for non‑native arthropods. The region, especially Florida, with its subtropical climate, diverse agricultural systems, and enormous volume of imported plant material, faces invasion pressure at a scale few other parts of the country experience. Yet despite this reality, scientific output from the southeast U.S. has not kept pace with the urgency of the threat.

A new two-volume special issue of Florida Entomologist, titled “Invasive Species Records and Updates,” which I planned as guest editor, aims to help close that gap and offer lessons for the broader entomological community. It took two years of effort to bring this project to completion, and I am pleased that both volumes are now available online: 2024 and 2025.

This special issue brings together 16 articles that collectively advance our understanding of invasive and adventive arthropods in Florida and the broader southeast U.S. (Figure 1). The issue opens with two comprehensive solicited review papers, intentionally placed to frame both the biological reality and the management needs of invasive arthropods in the region. The first, Skelley et al. 2025, provides a definitive inventory of Florida’s adventive arthropods, documenting 450 species detected from 1990 to 2023, including 291 that had never been recorded on the continent or in the hemisphere. This review addresses the question, “What is arriving?”

Figure 1. Conceptual map of the 10 invasion-science dimensions (D1–D10) represented across the 16 articles in a special issue of Florida Entomologist, titled “Invasive Species Records and Updates,” published in two volumes: 2024 and 2025. Each bubble corresponds to one article (numbered 1–16), with multiple bubbles indicating multiple contributions within the same dimension intersection. The 10 dimensions reflect the logical progression of invasion science addressed across the issue: D1: What is arriving? D2: How should we respond? D3: Where do we detect new invaders? D4:  How do we identify new invaders? D5: How do we keep species lists accurate? D6: How do invaders use or damage plants? D7: What risks arise when invaders establish in natural areas? D8: How are invasive species spreading? D9: When are invasive pests active? D10: What tools support sustainable management? The numbered bubbles correspond to the following articles: 1. Skelley et al. 2025; 2. Agunbiade et al. 2025; 3. Nance et al. 2024; 4. Ahmed et al. 2025; 5. Powell et al. 2024; 6. Mahas et al. 2024; 7. Johnson et al. 2024; 8. Lucas et al. 2024; 9. Liu et al. 2024; 10. Lopez et al. 2024; 11. Todd et al. 2024; 12. Ascunce et al. 2024; 13. Olabiyi et al. 2024; 14. Middleton et al. 2024; 15. Vargas et al. 2024; and 16. Crees et al. 2024. Together, these contributions illustrate how detection, diagnosis, ecology, spread, and management intersect to shape our understanding of invasive and adventive arthropods. (Image courtesy of Muhammad Z. “Zee” Ahmed, Ph.D.)

Complementing this, Agunbiade et al. 2025 outline a modern biosecurity framework that integrates prevention, early detection, sustainability, and integrated pest management. This review addresses the question, “How should we respond?”

Extending this foundation, Nance et al. 2024 highlight the operational frontline of biosecurity by examining how Florida’s agricultural inspection stations intercept invasive insects moving through interstate truck shipments. Their work shows where early detection occurs on the ground and why these checkpoints are essential for slowing the spread of new pests. This manuscript addresses the question, “Where do we detect new invaders in real time?”

The issue also strengthens the region’s diagnostic capacity through a range of identification and survey tools. Ahmed et al. 2025 provide the first comprehensive identification guide for mealybug species established in the southeast U.S., an essential resource for early and accurate diagnosis. Building on this foundation, Powell et al. 2024 document the appearance, genetics, host plants, and early distribution of a newly emerging mealybug in Florida. Expanding early‑detection tools further, Mahas et al. 2024 provide an identification guide for aphids collected in pan traps, helping researchers recognize potential pest species during routine monitoring. This section addresses the question, “How do we quickly and accurately identify new invaders?”

Supplementing these tools, Johnson et al. 2024 report new species records and updated classifications for bark and ambrosia beetles in Florida, reflecting changes in the known fauna that may result from recent introductions or improved detection. This manuscript addresses the question, “How do we keep our species lists accurate as invasions continue?”

Adding a vital host‑plant perspective, Lucas et al. 2024 document, for the first time, four scale insects feeding on the invasive Chinese tallow tree, revealing new plant–insect relationships that may influence future spread. Extending this theme, Liu et al. 2024 survey wild orchid habitats in southern Florida and find that six native orchid species, many of which are endangered or threatened, are infested by an introduced scale insect, raising serious conservation concerns. This section addresses the question, “How do invasive species interact with the plants they depend on or damage?”

Continuing this ecological perspective, Lopez et al. 2024 document the presence, distribution, and population densities of the invasive New Guinea flatworm in forest conservation areas of the Miami Rock Ridge. Their findings show that the flatworm is firmly established in natural habitats and may threaten native invertebrates, especially land snails. This manuscript addresses the question, “What ecological risks arise when invaders establish in natural areas?”

Two additional studies highlight how both genetics and field observations are essential for understanding spread. Todd et al. 2024 analyze the genetics of fruit fly detections in Florida to determine whether they represented new arrivals or the expansion of undetected populations. Complementing this, Ascunce et al. 2024 document the eastward expansion of the South American big-headed ant into Florida citrus groves, showing how invasive ants reshape local communities. This section addresses the question, “How and where are invasive species spreading?”

Additional papers expand this diagnostic and management perspective. Studies on the lebbeck mealybug, by Olabiyi et al. 2024 and Middleton et al. 2024, clarify seasonal patterns and evaluate natural enemies that may support future biological control. This section addresses the question, “What biological information helps us predict and manage invasive pests?”

Sustainable management strategies are further illustrated by Vargas et al. 2024, who demonstrate how sanitation can reduce hibiscus bud weevil infestations, and by Crees et al. 2024, who report a predatory mite associated with a biological control agent for Old World climbing fern. This section addresses the question, “What practical tools support long-term, sustainable management?”

Taken together, the 16 articles in this special issue show that truly effective invasive‑species research must integrate every dimension of the problem: early detection, accurate identification, plant–pest relationships, ecological impacts, spread revealed through both field observations and genetics, seasonal biology, natural enemies, sanitation practices, and biological control (Figure 1). The studies span a wide range of organisms, from agricultural pests to forest invaders to an invasive flatworm, illustrating the breadth and complexity of the region’s invasion challenges. By covering this whole spectrum, the special issue demonstrates that successful management depends on viewing invasive species from multiple scientific angles, with each perspective contributing a vital piece to the broader biosecurity and sustainability puzzle.

The bubbles in Figure 1 are disproportionate in their weights, with solicited articles carrying a larger weight due to their broader application in invasive-species science. Article 1 (Skelley et al. 2025) carries the largest weight and would substantially reset the region’s invasion-science baseline. It compiles hundreds of adventive arthropod species never before recorded at the hemisphere scale, a scope unmatched by any previous synthesis for Florida or the broader southeast U.S. This quantitative foundation provides the first long-term view of how rapidly non-native species have accumulated in the region and establishes a benchmark against which future invasion trends can be measured.

Article 4 (Ahmed et al. 2025) is emphasized next because it delivers the first fully integrated diagnostic treatment of mealybugs for the southeast U.S., providing identification coverage for 79 species, an undertaking that has not previously been attempted at this scale in the region for a group that is both highly invasive and economically consequential. Articles 2 (Agunbiade et al. 2025) and 3 (Nance et al. 2024) follow in prominence because they introduce region-specific operational frameworks that had not previously existed: one consolidating multiple components of biosecurity into a unified strategic model and the other analyzing tens of thousands of interception events to reveal real-time pathways of entry.

Together, these four contributions supply the historical baselines, diagnostic infrastructure, strategic architecture, and detection intelligence that underpin the entire special issue. While the remaining articles deepen and diversify the thematic landscape, these foundational works provide the structural backbone that distinguishes this collection from prior literature and establishes it as a new reference point for invasive species research in the southeast U.S.

Figure 2. (A) Bibliometric trends in invasive species research from 1950 to 2025 show a pronounced global acceleration beginning in the 1990s, highlighted by Ahmed & Weeks 2025. (B) Symbolic, non-quantitative swarms illustrate the conceptual rise of adventive arthropods detected in Florida from the early 1900s through the 2020s, inspired by long-term patterns summarized by Skelley et al. 2025. (Image courtesy of Muhammad Z. “Zee” Ahmed, Ph.D.)

To frame the issue, Ahmed and Weeks 2025 conduct a bibliometric analysis of publications on invasive species from 1900 to 2025 (Figure 2). The results reveal a persistent mismatch: Although global research on invasive species has surged over the past three decades, the southeast U.S. remains proportionally underrepresented in scientific literature. The nation’s overall share of global publications has grown. Yet, the southeast U.S. region’s contribution shows no meaningful long‑term increase, even as the region continues to detect new arthropod arrivals at a rapid pace.

This special issue highlights emerging threats to crops, ornamentals, and natural ecosystems. It underscores why U.S. scientists urgently need to support regionally focused society-owned journals to keep pace with accelerating invasions. As trade intensifies and climate conditions shift, new pests are being transported and introduced more rapidly, allowing them to establish more easily. The timely report of first-detection records, such as new state or continental reports, cannot remain siloed or unpublished, because neighboring states and regions depend on these early alerts to initiate surveillance and management. The southeast U.S. region’s experience makes one point unmistakably clear: Regional society-owned journals are not just academic outlets; they are frontline tools in biosecurity. Expanding similar efforts across the southeast U.S. would strengthen early detection, improve coordination, and help the U.S. stay ahead of rapidly evolving pest threats.

At the end, I want to thank all contributing authors and, most importantly, my colleague Emma Weeks, Ph.D., editor‑in‑chief of Florida Entomologist, whose support made this special issue possible. As she aptly notes, “What establishes in the southeast U.S. often becomes a national concern. Regional publishing platforms are essential for documenting these changes quickly and making that information accessible to the broader community.”

Muhammad Z. “Zee” Ahmed, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of turf and ornamental entomology at Clemson University’s PeeDee Research and Education Center in Florence, South Carolina. Email: [email protected].