Invasive pest fall armyworm detected in Victoria
A pest native to the tropical regions of the Americas is now established in Australia, within just 12 months of its first detection.
A HIGHLY invasive pest native to the Americas that can decimate a crop overnight has become established in Australia within just 12 months.
Fall armyworm feeds on more than 350 plant species including maize, sorghum, wheat and vegetable and fruit crops.
The destructive caterpillar was first detected in Australia in far north Queensland in January last year. Soon after it was found in northern Western Australia and the Northern Territory and in September its feared descent south was confirmed with a detection in a surveillance trap in Moree, in northern NSW.
Agriculture Victoria have this week confirmed it has made its way to Victoria for the first time having been found in a maize crop in Orbost, East Gippsland.
Gippsland Seed Services production manager Marni Riordan had placed traps out following its first sighting north of the Victorian border. The traps caught some moths that were later confirmed as fall army worm by Agriculture Victoria’s diagnostics team.
Agriculture Victoria’s plant pests and diseases manager Chris Pittock said it wasn’t surprising fall army worm has been found in Victoria after spreading so rapidly across Australia this year.
“Fall armyworm has adapted to warm tropical and subtropical areas in Northern Australia and can migrate rapidly and be spread by storm events. Victoria will likely see flights of adult moths in future years from mid-spring through summer and into autumn, as we have seen this summer,” Mr Pittock said.
But populations in Victoria are not expected to survive the state’s cold winter.
It was decided in May that it was not possible to eradicate fall armyworm from Australia.
Since 2016 the pest has spread rapidly though Africa, the Indian subcontinent, China and south east Asia and despite multiple attempts, it has never been successfully eradicated from any country it has invaded.
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