The Council of Agriculture yesterday launched a new round of compulsory measures to prevent the spread of fall armyworms that involve spraying pesticide in all areas where they have been sighted.
Twenty-one new sightings of the pest were reported from Friday to Monday in the outlying islands of Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu, as well as in Hsinchu, Miaoli, Chiayi, Pingtung and Hualien counties on Taiwan proper, a council task force responsible for eliminating the insects said, adding that eggs and pupae have been found.
A total of 68 of the larval form of the pest have been sighted nationwide since the first sighting was confirmed in a corn field in Miaoli County on June 10.
Crops have been uprooted and buried on 28 farms, the task force said.
Only Nantou County and Kaohsiung, as well as Green Island (綠島) and Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼), have not reported sightings, council data showed.
As the time frame to eliminate first-generation larvae comes to an end and additional sightings have been reported, the task force announced a second round of measures: destroying eggs, pupae and moths with pesticide.
Officials are also educating farmers on the appearance of the eggs, larvae, pupae and moths, and asking them to immediately report any sightings to the authorities.
They have also deployed 500 pheromone traps nationwide.
Fall armyworms, so named as they crawl in large numbers from field to field after exhausting their food supply, have a life cycle of about 30 days, in which they go through four stages: egg, larva, pupa and moth.
Fall armyworm eggs measure about 0.4mm by 0.3mm, and the pupa is reddish brown in color and measures 14mm to 18mm long and about 4.5mm wide.
The moth has a wingspan of 32mm. Male moths have gray-and-brown forewings, with triangular white markings at the tip and near the center.
The forewings of female moths range from a uniform grayish brown to a fine mottling of gray and brown.
The hind wings in both sexes are iridescent silver-white with a narrow dark border.
The council is offering a reward of NT$10,000 to people who make a confirmed report of the pest until tomorrow.
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