Contents Vol. 34

GENERAL AND APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY

The Journal of the Entomological Society of New South Wales Inc.

VOLUME 34 CONTENTS

DOMINIAK, B.C., BAKER, B. and BARCHIA, I.M. Interception of fruit fly host material from vehicles travelling between New South Wales and South Australia in 1999/2000. …………………………………………………. 43

Data on fruit carriage into the South Australian fruit fly roadblock at Oodla Wirra between September 1999 and May 2000 were analysed to identify peak periods for entry of host material of Queensland Fruit Fly.  A significantly higher proportion of vehicles carried fruit during September and May.  Vehicles carried significantly greater weight of fruit in September, April and May.  Based on vehicle registration number plates, travellers from South Australia and New South Wales made up 74% of the traffic flow, although South Australians were significantly less likely to carry fruit and carried significantly smaller weights of fruit.  Significantly more vehicles carried fruit into Oodla Wirra on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and the average weight of fruit carried per vehicle was significantly higher on Tuesday and Friday.  Periodic operation of the Broken Hill (New South Wales) fruit fly roadblock had no significant impact on fruit interception at the Oodla Wirra site, even though they are only three hours travel time apart and on the same road.  The implications of the findings on the regulation of fruit movement between New South Wales and South Australia are discussed.

General and Applied Entomology 34: 43-47

DOMINIAK, B.C., GILLESPIE, P.S., KERR, M., KELLY, E.J. and WASSELL, G. The search for Red Imported Fire Ants Solenopsis invicta Burren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in New South Wales. ……………….. 23

Active and passive surveillance with a public awareness campaign was undertaken in New South Wales following the detection of Red Imported Fire Ants at Brisbane, Queensland, in February 2001.  Between February 2001 and June 2002 1072 sites were inspected and 666 ant samples submitted for identification.  In 2002-03 2902 sites were inspected and 1190 ant samples submitted.  No fire ants were found during the first 29 months of operation.  The public awareness campaign was conducted using a generic brochure, presence at field days, public displays, and a toll-free telephone number.

General and Applied Entomology 34: 23-27

DOMINIAK, B.C., GURR, G.M., SIMMONS, A.T. and BEGUM, M. Scientific Note: A pilot program to monitor fruit fly infestation of fruit intercepted at roadside inspections in New South Wales. …………………….. 15

The use of vehicle inspections to minimise the entry of potentially infested fruit has been used in New South Wales to safeguard the Fruit Fly Exclusion Zone (FFEZ) since 1996, and before 1990 in previous programs.  While the assessment of the number of vehicles carrying fruit is comparatively easy, assessing infestation of fruit by Queensland Fruit Fly Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae) can be time consuming.  There are quick assessment methods which rely on slicing fruit, however these are unreliable for the first five days after oviposition has occurred because of the small size of larvae.  Additionally, larvae are almost impossible to identify to species level in the field.  These methods were used in the 1970s and 1980s (O’Loughlin 1983) so determinations made in these circumstances may be suspect.

General and Applied Entomology 34: 15

HANGAY, G. and BROADLEY, R.A. The invertebrate collection of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS), New South Wales. ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 17

The AQIS NSW invertebrate collection contains specimens from four phyla (Platyhelminthes, Annelida, Mollusca and Arthropoda).  Mollusca (52 families, 86 genera, 110 species) and Arthropoda (204 families, 571 genera, 1126 species) form the largest part of the collection, represented by approximately 14000 dry specimens, 6000 specimens preserved in ethanol and 3000 slide preparations.  The history of the collection and the associated curatorial work from 1971 until present is described and a list of known determiners is provided.

General and Applied Entomology 34: 17-21

HAQUE, N.M.M. and LEVOT, G.W. An improved method of laboratory rearing the Small Hive Beetle Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae). ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 29

A method is described for rearing Small Hive Beetle, Aethina tumida, in the laboratory.  A diet comprising pollen, torula yeast and honey was nutritious for larvae.  With adequate moisture provided adults could be maintained in a nonreproductive state if loose sucrose crystals were provided.  Protein in the form of pollen and yeast was needed for females to develop eggs and for oviposition.  If provided with protein females were capable of laying viable eggs within 3-6 d of emergence.  At 29°C eggs hatched in 1-2 d.  There were four recognisable larval instars.  Larvae fed for up to 6 d.  They remained as post-feeding larvae for another 4-13 d.  Pupation occurred after the larvae were transferred to soil.  In the laboratory rearing scheme 9 cm diameter plastic cylinders holding a depth of about 15 cm of loose, moist, sandy soil were used.  The pupal period occupied 13-25 d.

General and Applied Entomology 34: 29-31

HOSSAIN, M.S., WILLIAMS, D.G and MILNER, A.D. Carpophilus spp. (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) Responses to aggregation pheromone plus decomposed fruit as co-attractant in stone fruit orchards in South Australia. ……………………………………………………………. 33

The response of Carpophilus spp. to ‘attract and kill’ stations that used aggregation pheromone plus fruit, which was progressively decomposed, as co-attractant was examined in Summer Fire Nectarine orchards.  In the 1999/00 season, C. davidsoni was the dominant species (>90%) in the ‘attract and kill’ stations, whereas in 2000/01 C. hemipterus was dominant.  In 1999/00, rotten fruit in the stations was replaced each week whereas in 2000/01 fruit was added to, instead of replacing, the rotten fruit.  Although there were no significant differences in levels of damage, this work suggests that the quality of co-attractant had an important impact on the composition of species captured in the ‘attract and kill’ stations and the efficacy of the ‘attract and kill’ stations.

General and Applied Entomology 34: 33-42

WELDON, C.W. Marking Queensland Fruit Fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae) with fluorescent pigments: pupal emergence, adult mortality, and visibility and persistence of marks. …………………… 7

A self-marking technique and fluorescent pigments were used to assess the effect of ptilinal pigment marks on pupal emergence, adult mortality, and marker visibility and persistence in Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera: Tephritidae).  Marking of B. tryoni with fluorescent pigment powders resulted in lower emergence caused by a higher proportion of newly-emerged adults being unable to escape the emergence tray.  Mortality of marked adults that emerged successfully was similar to that of unmarked adults.  Visibility of pigment marks varied with pigment colour and the wavelength of light used to view the marks.  Most pigments were very durable, persisting throughout the experiment.  Several fluorescent pigment powders are suggested as candidates for use in mark-release-recapture studies on B. tryoni.

General and Applied Entomology 34: 7-13

BOOK REVIEW:

Bumblebee economics ………………………………………………………………… ………………..49

OBITUARY

Clarence Earl Chadwick ………………………………………. 1