Japanese Beetle Outbreak Feared
(New Zealand Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, May 10. Department of Agriculture officials are fearful an outbreak of the dreaded Japanese beetle will occur in New Zealand this year. Steps are already being taken at the department’s scientific laboratories at Levin to eradicate the pest which is thought to be breeding at Lyttelton and Christchurch.
Mr G. Morrison, scientific officer at the Levin research centre, told delegates at the annua] conference of the Entomological Society of New Zealand at New Plymouth today that if the beetle became established it could prove more troublesome than the already prevalent grass grub.
The research centre. he said, was preparing to adopt United States patented traps to catch the beetle when it emerged this spring.
First news of the beetle in New Zealand came last November when a waterside worker at Lyttelton handed a dead specimen to an agricultural officer. He told the officer he had caught it on the wharf about a month previously, but as
he was interested in rare insects he kept it at his house until it died. Officers had since found that a United States Antarctic Expedition vessel was being worked, and while part of the cargo had been shipped to Antarctica, more was stored at Harewood Airport. “You can understand the dilemma I am placed in,” said Mr Morrison. “This was an ideal time for the beetle to land here as its breeding time is during spring, and if any have landed from the ship they will not come to light again before October. “If the pest gains a foothold it will wipe out crops, market gardens, orchards and pastures.” Mr Morrison said the beetle had ravaged hundreds of acres of pasture and crops on the east coast of America in the last few years and intensive campaigns were being conducted in an effort to rid the land of them.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CI, Issue 29819, 11 May 1962, Page 14
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315Japanese Beetle Outbreak Feared Press, Volume CI, Issue 29819, 11 May 1962, Page 14
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