Second wave of African armyworm imminent

Richard Van Noorden Liberia prepares for second plague of caterpillar pests. A plague of crop-eating caterpillars has struck Liberia and a second wave could spread across West Africa in the next few weeks, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberia’s president, has declared a state of emergency and appealed for international aid. … The caterpillars have munched through cocoa, bananas and maize (corn), and are defecating in water supplies. So far more than 100 villages and around 500,000 people have been affected, says Arthur Tucker, of Liberia’s Ministry of Agriculture. "This is an emergency on the scale of a major locust outbreak," says the FAO’s Christopher Matthews. Many of the armyworms have now bored into the ground, FAO entomologist Winfred Hammond reported on Thursday. When they re-emerge as moths in a week to 12 days, he says, a second wave may spread into neighbouring countries such as Guinea and Sierra Leone. … "The Liberians are right to be worried that the next wave of outbreaks could be even worse," says Ken Wilson, of Lancaster University, UK, who works with Grzywacz. If the weather conditions continue to be good for armyworms (generally scattered showers and warm), he says, then the next wave of moths will be initiating a second generation of outbreaks in a few weeks, which could be even worse than the last one. "Of course, if they are lucky, the weather conditions may turn against the armyworms and things may gradually subside." UPDATE: Apparently, these aren’t army worms: Riddle of Liberian insect plague.