Complete host specificity test plant list and associated data to assess host specificity of and , two potential biocontrol agents for invasive in North America.

Introduced European genotypes of are invasive and widespread in North America. Decades of management using herbicide and other means have failed to control the species and its range and populations continue to expand. Allowing continued invasion threatens native wetland biota and an endemic North American subspecies . The lack of conventional management to control introduced triggered research to assess host specificity of two European noctuid moths, and . These two species are considered particularly promising potential biocontrol agents for introduced . Here we provide the complete and approved list of test plants used to assess host specificity of and . This includes data on neonate larval acceptance and survival under no-choice conditions, and oviposition tests for all plant species tested, including for different subspecies currently occurring in North America. We further provide temperature profiles of select cities in the temperate native European distribution of the two noctuids and those in southern US climates. We used these long-term temperature records to assess whether overwintering eggs of and can survive under climate conditions typical for the Gulf Coast region in North America. This data article refers to "Host specificity and risk assessment of and , two potential biocontrol agents for invasive in North America Biol. Control (2018)".