Large ants imported

Press, 1 March 1984, Page 8

Large ants imported

Tboasaads of potentially dangerous black ants were destroyed is a ship at Lyttelton recently. The ants four times larger than New Zealand ants — were thought to be carpenter ants, which attack timber, posts, and poles in their native countries. They swarmed iato the container ship Hanna Mara while she sheltered from a storm near the Great Barrier Reef off Queensland, during her voyage from Singapore to New 7 Aimongh the J ship was sprayed at Auckland, live most WMfh hkl •eraned -the spray. weH fonndwCn she

“They were scurrying from deck lockers, mooring ropes, boxes of shackles, liferafts, and every other dark hiding place,” said the district timber inspector of the Forest Service, Mr Warwick Owen. . The Forest Service officers used a recently acquired pressure spray machine to make an effective “first hit” on the live pests util commercial pest control experts arrived, Mr Owen said. \ Mr Owen said the ants could be a serious threat to pine forests if they became established in New Zealand. After the decks were sprayed two holds were r opened and declared, apart from one small group, free

of ants. The fourteen containers unloaded were also free of uts. Positive identification of the uts would not be available for some months, said Mr Owen. Samples had been sent to the Forest Research Institute entomology section at Rotorua and the Plut Health Diagnostic Station at Levin for identification. The Forest Service quarantine staff check all cargo arriving at ports and airports for insects and diseases that could threaten New Zealand's forests. In the last year officers at Lyttelton intercepted in 53 instances insects and diseasoUhat could threaten.