Report to the General Assembly of the United Nations on the administration of the Territory of New Guinea / Commonwealth of Australia.

Date:
[1964]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report to the General Assembly of the United Nations on the administration of the Territory of New Guinea / Commonwealth of Australia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    82/352 (page 68)
    Economic Entomology The Entomology Section is staffed by four technical officers stationed at Keravat and at the headquarters of the Depart¬ ment of Agriculture, Stock and Fisheries at Port Moresby. At Keravat field trials are conducted for the control of the more important insect pests. A general insect register and an insect pest register are maintained at Port Moresby and a reference collection is being built up. Materials for taxonomic study and identifications are forwarded to more than 40 overseas specialists. The coconut, which is the most important commercial crop in the Territory, has several major pests. Dynastid beetles are probably the most serious primary pests of this crop. The Asiatic rhinoceros beetle, Oryctes rhinoceros L., which is believed to have been accidentally introduced to the Bismarck Archipelago during the last war, has not yet invaded the mainland of New Guinea and Bougainville. On the mainland, Scapanes australis Boisd. is the most important indigenous dynastid pest. In the Bismarck Archi¬ pelago and on Bougainville, it is replaced by the closely related species, Scapanes grossepunctatus Sternb. Chemical control against both introduced and indigenous dynastids is carried out by individual treatment of the palms with insecticides, mainly BHC dust. The Department’s pro¬ gramme for the biological control of Oryctes rhinoceros has been continued by the introduction of beneficial insects. This work is conducted in close co-operation with the South Pacific Commission. Measures to establish the United Nations Special Fund South Pacific Commission five year project for control of Oryctes rhinoceros were put in train during the year. The project, for which the Food and Agriculture Organization has ben nominated as Executing Agency, has been sub-contracted to the South Pacific Commission. The Commission has established the Rhino¬ ceros Beetle Operations Board as the planning and advi¬ sory body for the project. The Board held its first meeting in April, 1964. A departmental entomologist seconded to the South Pacific Commission from June till December, 1963, visited West Africa to collect numbers of a predator of Oryctes for the control of Oryctes rhinoceros and other dynastid beetles attacking coconut palms. The palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus papuanus Kirsch, attacks palms which were damaged primarily by dynastids and wounded in various other ways. A two per cent, solution of dieldrin in creosote sprayed on entrance holes and wounds gives good control. Of the two major hispid pests of coconut, Brontispa longissima Gestro causes damage to young palms in many districts throughout the Territory. Control is achieved with a 0.15 per cent, dieldrin spray repeated every six weeks. The coconut leaf-mining beetle, Promecotheca papuana Csiki, although recorded in various parts of the Territory, causes damage mainly in some parts of New Britain. Since 1960-61 cacao in a newly developed cacao growing area of the Gazella Peninsula of New Britain has been seriously damaged by the larvae of some species of Noctuidae, Geometridae and Lymantriidae. Some species also attacked the foliage of Leucaena glauca shade trees. The main species involved were the noctuid Achaea janata L. and the geometrids Hyposidra talaca Wlk. and Ectropis spp. There was a decrease in the population density of these pests in 1963-64. Pantorhytes weevils (notably Pantorhytes plutus Oberth. in New Britain, and P. proximus Gestro in the Morobe District) are still considered the most important pests affecting cacao. Chemical control experiments against Pantorhytes plutus are continuously carried out at the Keravat station. The mirid (capsid) Pseudodoniella typica (China and Carv.) is a major pest of cacao in New Britain. It is replaced in the mainland by P. laenis Miller. Both species damage mainly the pods but sometimes also the young shoots. Cacao mirids are susceptible to BHC dust and endrin spray and by regular treatment of the cacao- planta¬ tions and cacao gardens with these insecticides their population density can be reduced to prevent economic loss. The coreid bug, Amblypelta theobromae Brown, which is confined to the Morobe District, is another potential pest of cacao pods. It is susceptible to dieldrin. A related species Amblypelta madangana previously known in the Madang District, was found in March, 1964, on cacao in the Sepik District. Investigations on the suspected connection between primary insect pests and some types of die-back of laterals in cacao trees are being continued. Coffea canephora has still no major pests. Meroleptus cine tor Msl., the coffee girdler weevil of the Eastern High¬ lands, for some years a major pest of Coffee arabica, is now well under control. Chemical control trials against the jassid (Batrachomorphus sp.) at Aiyura station were discontinued. The campaign for the eradication of the introduced giant termite Mastotermes darwiniensis Frogg, in the Lae area, has been continued in 1963-64. Soil Survey The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation continued its regional resources surveys of the Territory. The work in the current year was devoted to checking and augmenting data collected in previous years in the Western and Southern Highlands Districts. Following the purchase of some 15,000 acres of swamp and over 10,000 acres of semi-swamp in the Wahgi Valley, detailed soil and land investigations were renewed in order to develop techniques for drainage and the development of suitable agricultural systems. Widespread sampling was completed and a new experimental area for detailed drainage investigations was marked out on typical peaty swamps. A programme of taking levels through the swamp area was commenced as well as investigations into the measurement of water inflow to the swamp. The potential of the semi-swamp land for tea production has received close attention as investigations had shown the pH levels were consistently in the region of 6.0 to 6.5. However, trial plots of tea on soils of this kind have not shown adverse affects to date. Field investigation and mapping of highly populated areas in the Chimbu and Maprik Sub-districts were com¬ pleted over a total area of about 550 square miles. Areas