Alternate Invasive/Introduced Species

I was pondering the fact that rabbits in England were introduced by the Normans (for fur and food) and what effects guinea pigs* would have had if they had been known and introduced instead.

That led me to think what other invasive or introduced species there could be across the globe (and why this is in pre1900 rather than ASB).

* cavies to you Americans ;)
 

katchen

Banned
It has to be an introduced species that people will be motivated to introduce....

Charles V does NOT sell Moluccas to the Portuguese. He sells them the Plata and Paraguay to the head of navigation of the Pilcomayo River instead. The Portuguese thus gain access to the Bolivian yungas higlands where coca is grown and discover coca. The Portuguese not only introduce coca leaves but coca growing to Africa via Mozambique (since this variety of coca grows in savannah country) and especially to India via Goa and to East Timor. From East Timor, Makassan traders spread coca cultivation all over the Indonesian archipelago.:eek:

Brushtail possums are brought to Louisiana as a fur farmed animal from Australia in the 1890s. They get loose in 1899 and spread all over the Southeastern United States, "A pest of plague proportions"

Links: http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/science-and-technical/everybodyspossum.pdf


Also from Australia, red back and funnel web spiders get to the United States in loads of wood and spread. Along with a particularly voracious species of termite found throughout Eastern Australia that can eat living trees and finish an entire house in one season.:eek:edback Spiders are found throughout Australia and are common in disturbed and urban areas.
tification
Coptotermes acinaciformis is a subterranean termite. These termites are very destructive. Soldier termites produce white milky liquid from their mandibles and are aggressive. They are found underground an avoid the light. They may travel underground up to 100m from the colony in search of food.

Size
Body size 4mm -6mm

Habitat
forest, urban areas with eucalypt gum trees

Food
cellulose from wood

Breeding
Coptotermes acinaciformis build their nest within the base of a tree or underground. A colony may have over a million termites. They also build subsidiary nests away from the main colony. In buildings, subsidiary nests may be built in wall cavities, provided there is access to moisture (e.g. from leaking water pipe).

Range
found throughout Australia except Tasmania

Notes
Coptotermes acinaciformis is highly destructive to buildings and timber structures. This is the most widespread termite pest in Australia, and is responsible for over seventy percent of serious termite damage to buildings. Australia. If you suspect that you have these termites, arrange a termite inspection with a reputable termite exterminator company.



Classification
Class:InsectaOrder:IsopteraFamily:Rhinotermitidae Genus:CoptotermesSpecies:acinaciformisCommon Name:Subterranean Termite
Relatives in same Genus
Subterranean Termite (C. frenchi)


Has one of the world's deadliest spiders been found in Britain? 'Funnel web' spotted outside a garden shed in Gloucester



By Daily Mail Reporter
UPDATED: 03:46 EST, 9 August 2010

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comments



One of the deadliest spiders in the world has been captured on camera in the wild in Britain - outside a garden shed in Goucester.
Les Fryer, 71, saw a highly poisonous funnel-web - the first time the species has ever been found in Britain.
The pensioner spotted the killer arachnid after visiting his garden shed to get his lawn mower and wife's bicycle.

article-0-0AB9EA10000005DC-450_634x419.jpg
Creepy crawly: Video taken by Les Fryer from Brockworth of what he believes is a deadly funnel web spider in his back garden


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nel-web-spiders-Gloucester.html#ixzz2XUdAf73r
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
 
cavies to you Americans ;)
actually, us Americans call them guinea pigs, too. and that's not just an internet-induced influence on me particularly, i've always heard them called guinea pigs (this was actually the first time i've heard them called "cavies", Mr. Apparently-Not-American Person ;)): from my parents, from my friends, from my animal care teacher in that one year of high school, and even from fuckin' South Park :p

anyway, as for invasive species, a couple that have interested me in the past are elephants (specifically the Asian genus) and the dromedary camel in the US. why? the actual US camelry, which did produce some feral populations which ended up dying out, and the possibility of Buchanan receiving some elephants from the King of Thailand as a gift. both could arguably live in the US, given that related species did in prehistoric times, and--at least in the case of camels--they also live on another continent colonized by Europeans, which is also where their only non-domesticated populations live: Australia (and yes, camels are an invasive and environmentally destructive species in Australia)
 
actually, us Americans call them guinea pigs, too. and that's not just an internet-induced influence on me particularly, i've always heard them called guinea pigs (this was actually the first time i've heard them called "cavies", Mr. Apparently-Not-American Person ;)): from my parents, from my friends, from my animal care teacher in that one year of high school, and even from fuckin' South Park :p

:eek::eek: Hmmm, you know I never noticed South Park used the term Guinea Pig.
Wonder if Cavy was just the preferred breeders term in the US - it was a US book on Guinea Pigs - and didn't catch on

anyway, as for invasive species, a couple that have interested me in the past are elephants (specifically the Asian genus) and the dromedary camel in the US. why? the actual US camelry, which did produce some feral populations which ended up dying out, and the possibility of Buchanan receiving some elephants from the King of Thailand as a gift. both could arguably live in the US, given that related species did in prehistoric times, and--at least in the case of camels--they also live on another continent colonized by Europeans, which is also where their only non-domesticated populations live: Australia (and yes, camels are an invasive and environmentally destructive species in Australia)

Isn't there a group advocating elephants in the US to regulate the environment "properly"? :D
 
Yes it's part of the rewilding of the Great Planes, Also included are lions and camals of both kinds along with many other large animals
 
Elephants don't really have a high enough birth-rate to be really invasive, though.

What about earlier introductions of some OTL invasive species, too? For example, Britain could easily have been inflicted with Grey Squirrels, Musk Rats, and maybe even Coypu, at significantly earlier dates than happened historically.
 
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