Tothill then introduced a parasitoid of a moth in a related genus, Artona; this was a Malaysian fly species, Bessa remota, which proved immensely successful in lowering Levuana populations.

Tothill and colleagues managed to drastically curb the moth's numbers by introducing the Malayan tachinid fly (Bessa remota) to the Levuana iridescens environment.

[2] This form of biological control was employed to ensure the survival of the copra crop which grew from the coconut palm that was threatened by the moth.

Copra, next to sugar, is the most significant industry in Fiji, and since 1877 the foliage of the palms had been eaten by the moth's larva to the point of ruin.

However, scientific and biological data has shown some limited evidence that the moth was most likely not completely eradicated at the time, and had spread its population to other neighboring islands.

The controversy concerns deciding which is more important: the cultural sustenance which comes from the crops of the Pacific Islanders, or the protection of a unique species, even if it is considered a pest.

Questions arise on various issues: whether or not implementations of this practice may result in harm to non-target species; whether it is affordable to test the effectiveness or detrimental side-effects of biological control; if lab testing is precise enough to measure these effects; if more harm will arise from simply doing nothing; or if biological control is a significant enough threat to exotic species survival to research its impacts on extinction.