Review Viral biocontrol of invasive vertebrates: Lessons from the past applied to cyprinid herpesvirus-3 and carp (Cyprinus carpio) control in Australia Kenneth A. McColl a,⇑ , Brian D. Cooke b , Agus Sunarto a a CSIRO-Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia b Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2617, Australia highlights  There have been three major viral biocontrol programs against invasive vertebrates.  Rabbits and cats have been successfully targeted with three different viruses.  We have identified the most important lessons from these programs.  The lessons are applied to biocontrol of carp in Australia with cyprinid herpesvirus-3. graphical abstract article info Article history: Received 4 September 2013 Accepted 21 February 2014 Available online 1 March 2014 Keywords: Biological control Vertebrate pests Cyprinid herpesvirus-3 Feline panleukopenia Myxomatosis Rabbit hemorrhagic disease abstract This paper reviews successful and, briefly, unsuccessful viral biocontrol programs for invasive vertebrate pests to provide lessons for future programs, especially the potential use of cyprinid herpesvirus-3 to control carp in Australia. There have only been three major programs where viral pathogens have been used successfully against invasive vertebrate pests. Myxoma and rabbit hemorrhagic disease viruses were used to control rabbits in Australia, and feline panleukopenia virus helped eliminate cats from sub-Antarctic Marion Island. These programs have shown us that successful viral biocontrol programs for invasive species must include: a thorough understanding of the biology of the target species, and of the viral epidemiology; an integrated pest management program involving both the virus and other control methods; and, a post-release assessment of the ecological benefits of the program. The most important practical lessons identified in this review are: the greatest impact of viruses as biocontrol agents is in the first years following release; unsuspected cross-reactive viruses may confer protection on the target species; and, there may be age- or temperature-related resistance to the virus in the target species. Crown Copyright Ó 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In Australia, many invasive terrestrial and aquatic species of vertebrates have been introduced, particularly over the last 200 years (Bomford and Hart, 2002). The European rabbit (Oryctol- agus cuniculus) and the common carp (Cyprinus carpio) are two invasive pest species that expanded their geographical range after establishment in Australia, despite all efforts to limit their spread. For rabbits, such efforts included large-scale poisoning and the construction of rabbit-proof fences (Rolls, 1984), and culminated in the separate introduction of two exotic viruses as biological con- trol (biocontrol) agents. The myxoma virus (MV), a poxvirus, was introduced into the field in 1950, and rabbit hemorrhagic disease http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocontrol.2014.02.014 1049-9644/Crown Copyright Ó 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: CSIRO-Australian Animal Health Laboratory, PO Bag 24, Geelong, VIC 3220, Australia. Fax: +61 3 5227 5555. E-mail addresses: Kenneth.mccoll@csiro.au (K.A. McColl), brian.cooke@canberra. edu.au (B.D. Cooke), agus.sunarto@csiro.au (A. Sunarto). Biological Control 72 (2014) 109–117 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Control journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ybcon