
Roger FarrowIndependent Researcher · None
Roger Farrow
BSc(Hons), DIC, PhD
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Publications (61)
Kosciuszko National Park is the largest protected area in NSW and the only reserve in the State containing alpine vegetation. Diseases and pests of plants in the park are poorly known and, until recently, were thought to be benign and rare because of the cold climate. Surveys after the 2003 fi re that burnt about 70% of the park detected dieback in...
A walk in the bush reveals insects visiting flowers, patrolling the air, burrowing under bark and even biting your skin. Every insect has characteristic feeding preferences and behaviours. Insects of South-Eastern Australia is a unique field guide that uses host plants and behavioural attributes as the starting point for identifying insects. Richly...
An interception trap to collect airborne arthropods under extreme weather conditions is described. The trap, constructed from durable materials, is operated by wind pressure. It consists of a funnel of fine brass gauze mounted inside a cylinder of stainless steel that rotates into the wind on a mast at 1.5 m from the ground. The gauze funnel termin...
Review of Invertebrate data for Coral Sea Islands with particular attention to invasive ant species
Records of the migratory locust from specially designed light traps provide the first demonstration, known to the author, of systematic catches of the tropical race of this species in light traps. Variations in the catches between 1973 and 1976 are related to population changes in the field and suggest that population displacement at night can be m...
A light trap for locusts and grasshoppers is described which by trapping up to 1.5 m from the light source catches large samples of plague locusts whenever night flights occur.
An association between ants and two eurymelid leafhoppers, Eurymeloides punctata and Eurymela distincta, was studied from December 1986 to June 1988 in a plantation of Eucalyptus viminalis in southeastern N.S.W. All populations of E. punctata and E. distincta were attended by ants of an Iridomyrmex species. Successful oviposition and survival of re...
Three trap types and 3 food lures were tested for their effectiveness in monitoring field populations of the common armyworm moth, Mythimna convecta (Walker). The traps comprised 1 UV light trap and 2 types of fermentation traps, namely a simple lure pail (‘lure pot'), into which the moths fell and drowned, and a cone trap built over a covered lure...
The maturation and fecundity of the spur-throated locust were measured in populations of three different densities in northern and central western New South Wales during spring and summer, 1974/75.
Adults overwinter in a non-reproductive condition and the females mature in spring. The initial ovarian cycle of the female, from the first appearance o...
Ovarian development is observed throughout the year in Austracris proxima in the field whereas in A. guttulosa it is restricted to mid-summer and for the remainder of the year females of this species remain immature. In the laboratory variations in day length did not affect the ovarian development of A. proxima but long day treatments were necessar...
The biology of the leafhoppers Eurymeloides punctata and Eurymela distincta was studied from December 1986 to June 1988 on CSIRO experimental eucalypt plantations near Canberra. These eurymelids are sap-feeders on eucalypts and are attended by ants. E. punctata had three overlapping generations per year and overwintered mainly in the egg stage. Pop...
Bengalia torosa (Wiedemann) was taken at a light/water trap at Rimbija Island, Cape Wessel (11°1 ‘S 136°45′E), in January 1977. This is the first reliable record of the genus from Australia although it is widely distributed in the Orient, including Java.
A new egg-pod predator of the Australian plague-locust, Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker), the larva of the melyrid beetle Laius villosus Lea is described. It was found in winter egg-pods of Acrididae in the Central West of New South Wales in 1972 and 1973. A brief account is given of the ecology of the species which is a minor facultative predator...
Potential insect migrants were sampled by light-trap at a remote island in the Coral Sea from 15 December 1977 to 30 November 1978 (351 nights). Breeding requirements, seasonal abundance and frequency, wind trajectory relationships, and known migratory tendencies of the 115 taxa collected, were analysed to detect those species migrating overseas fr...
Within- and between-provenance variation in growth, to age 4.5 y, of Eucalyptus grandis Hill ex Maiden was investigated in three irrigated provenance-family trials at two localities (Shepparton and Koorlong) in northern Victoria. These trials contained 47 E. grandis seedlots representing both natural stand provenances and planted stands including s...
Circumstantial evidence has implicated wind-borne mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in the introduction of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus into Australia from the New Guinea mainland. A study was initiated on Saibai Island in the northern Torres Strait, during January and February 2000, to identify the potential source of insects collected in aerial...
Objectives of this study were to examine (i) between‐provenance variation in susceptibility to insects in Eucalyptus globulus and (ii) relationships between insect damage and tree growth. We planted seedlings of 18 provenances of E. globulus from south‐east Australia in a field trial and measured tree growth and insect damage.
Christmas beetles Ano...
One hypothesis to explain the southern extension of Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus from Papua New Guinea into the Torres Strait islands in 1995 and to mainland Australia in 1998 is the dispersal of infected mosquitoes, particularly Culex annulirostris Skuse from which JE virus has been isolated repeatedly. To investigate whether this species disp...
Summary Transoceanic migration of four species of macrolepidoptera to subantarctic Macquarie Island has been detected in 7 out of 33 years during the period 1962–96 and is restricted to spring and autumn. Analyses of synoptic charts during the migration period show that autumn immigrants originated from New Zealand and comprised a single species of...
Surveys for juvenile Mythimna convecta throughout the agricultural and arid regions of eastern Australia were conducted from 1986 to 1989. Armyworm populations north of 33 degrees S were generally dominated by M. convecta, and further south by Persectania ewingii. M. convecta was most widely distributed in spring. Incidence during autumn and winter...
The level of defoliation caused by larvae of autumn gum moth (Mnesampela privata) and of leaf necrosis caused by larvae of leatblister sawfly (Phylacteophaga froggatti) were compared between different provenances of blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) grown in plantations on farmland west of Melbourne and near Tatura in north-central Victoria. The King...
The level of damage to foliage of Eucalyptus blakelyi and E. camaldulensis caused by Cardiaspina albitextura, C. retator, Phylacteophaga froggatti and Mnesampela privata was recorded for a range of provenances in plantations near Seymour and Tatura in Victoria, and in a natural stand near Tumut in New South Wales. The most resistant provenances of...
From December 1988 to February 1989, five samples of egg populations of two coexisting paropsine leaf beetles, Paropsis atomaria Olivier and Chrysophtharta variicollis (Chapuis), were collected from a young Eucalyptus blakelyi plantation on the Australian National University campus in Canberra. The initial estimates of egg mortality rates were adju...
The potential influence of climate warming on the future status of agricultural pests in Australia is discussed in terms of the possible effects that changes in temperature, rainfall and weather patterns will have on the future distribution, numbers, fluctuations and movements of pest populations. Event-driven outbreaks are distinguished from rate-...
A large outbreak of common arymworm began in spring 1983, 6 months after the conclusion of a nation-wide drought, and occurred throughout the major cereal-growing regions of E Australia. Probable source areas were in the extensive grasslands of inland Australia, particularly SW and C Queensland. Population increase appeared to follow a complex sequ...
Airborne migration is one of the most common adaptations for surviving and exploiting habitat variability. One weather feature that airborne migrants sometimes encounter, convergence, has the potential to concentrate populations in localities where climatic conditions have made a habitat temporarily favourable. Studies of migratory insects have now...
1. The spring migration of the oriental armyworm moth, Mythimna separata (Walker), and other insects into northeastern China was observed by radar at a site in central Jilin province. Samples of the migrants were obtained in a net flown from a kite, and M.separata populations in the surrounding region were monitored with a trap network.
2. The rada...
Aerial sampling for Nysius vinitor Bergroth was undertaken in the surface and upper air, at altitudes of 2 and 100-300 m, respectively, at Trangie in central New South Wales and at Corny Point, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. Insects were sampled for 15 periods, each of 3-11 days, between October 1979 and February 1984, covering all months except...
Describes the planetary boundary layer and the role of its structure in insect migration, then examines various atmospheric motions that migrants encounter. -P.J.Jarvis
In the major breeding areas of tropical migratory locust, Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.) in Mali, Chad, Sudan and Madagascar, man has played a vital role in maintaining locust numbers above the levels found in undisturbed environments, through his agricultural and pastoral activities. Recent rapid agricultural development, particularly...
Cutworms, semiloopers, budworms and armyworms in the genera Agrotis, Chrysodeixis, Heliothis, Mythimna, Persectania and Spodoptera are important pasture and crop pests in Australia. They comprise both cosmopolitan species, such as A. ipsilon, H. armigera, M. separata and S. exempta and endemic species such as A. infusa, H. punctigera, M. convecta,...
The migratory flight behaviour of Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), other delphacid and cicadellid pests of rice and some of their heteropteran predators was investigated during the dry-season crop in an irrigated rice-growing area of the Philippines. A combination of radar (including an X-band and a newly-developed Q-band system (8 mm wavelength)), aeria...
Four species in the genus of noctuid moths, Heliothis, are major agricultural pests throughout the world. We propose that their pest status is due, in part, to their capacity for long-range movement. This review discusses movement as an adaptive strategy in these moths, details the evidence for and against migratory movements, and evaluates techniq...
n Missouri, USA, and one week in New South Wales, Australia, using sticky traps in Missouri and to w nets in Australia . More than 2,000 spiders in Missouri and more than 800 spiders in Australia wer e identified to family and estimates made of their live masses . Both aeronaut faunas are dominated b y the family Linyphiidae, with the remaining fam...
Variations in the incidence of plagues of 4 locust species were independent of any differences in the intrinsic rate of natural increase (r) for each species. Behavioural changes in locusts, as density increases, prevent populations exceeding carrying capacity of the habitat, and it is unlikely therefore that intrinsic population fluctuations, pred...
Insect migration over long range is associated with particular weather patterns. In temperate latitudes, the eastward movement of cold fronts and the associated poleward surges of warm air are the most important (Johnson 1969). Less migratory activity is reported in the cold polar air moving towards the equator in the wake of fronts. Such movements...
The migrations of a number of species ofnoctuid and pvralid moths were studied with a specialpurpose radar unit and by direct sampling with a kite-borne net at a locality in central-western New South Wales during the early spring of 1980. The observations coincided with the appearance of very large numbers of moths throughout much of south-eastern...
Insects migrating above the surface boundary layer were efficiently and economically sampled over long periods using a large diameter tow net suspended beneath a kite. In a series of trials in Australia, sequential samples were obtained by day and night at predetermined altitudes, in the range 50–500 m. The net was raised and lowered independently...
Agricultural development on the wet grasslands of China's central plain is claimed to have eliminated plagues of the migratory locust. Locusta migratoria manilensis, the most damaging of the world's locusts. In the arid grasslands of the western steppe, intensification of animal production has, in contrast, led to outbreaks of various grasshoppers...
Night migrations of insects above the surface boundary layer were studied by direct observations with an entomological radar, and by direct aerial sampling with a kite-borne net, in an area in New South Wales inhabited by large fledging populations of Chortoicetes terminifera (Wlk.). The aerial catches and radar echo-modulation observations suggest...
The first observations of long-range diurnal migration by individual, long-winged forms of Phaulacridium vittatum (the “wingless grasshopper”) were made during the Braidwood grasshopper outbreak of 1980/81. Flights were downwind at altitudes from 10–50 m and over distances from 100 to > 500 m. Spatial and temporal changes in populations over the ar...
Unrealized natality and mortalities at successive development stages were measured during synchronized breeding by populations of the Australian plague locust. Studies were made over a 3-y period, covering nine generations, on small plots situated in pastures derived originally from savannah woodland in central western New South Wales. Variations i...
An analysis of population processes in the Australian plague locust showed that the key factor determining local population fluctuations was net migration. The density-disturbing effects of migration were over-compensated by the delayed effects of natural enemies on immature survival. There was no evidence that the amplitude of fluctuations was con...
A high density induces a tendency to macropterism in brachypterous insects, affects the relative growth of various body-parts, and changes the sexual size dimorphism. -from English summary
Scelio fulgidus
Crawford, a hymenopterous parasite of eggs ofAcrididae, was discovered in samples of the aerial fauna, collected at 100–300 m altitude over grassland at a site in central western New South Wales at 2 sampling periods in October/November 1979. The parasite was recorded throughout the day in conditions of convective uplift suggesting...
On three adjacent experimental plots in central western New South Wales, from 1971 to 1974, population fluctuations of the Australian plague locust were interpreted in terms of the interactions between reproductive rates (Ro) between generations and net migration losses or gains (M plus or minus ) within generations. Changes due to variations in ne...
An important outbreak of the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera (Wlk.), occurred in 1973 in central western New South Wales. The dynamics of the outbreak could be resolved into a sequence of five principal interacting events: (1) Sustained population increases in low-density populations in northern central western New South Wales du...
High levels of night-flight activity of the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera Walker, occurred on at least five separate occasions during the 1973-74 plague in south-east Australia and resulted in episodic, large-scale invasions at night of parts of southern New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia from more northerly breeding...
The occurrence and causes of plagues of tropical Locusta spp. are compared for the three major outbreak areas, Middle Niger of Mali (L. migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.)), south-west Madagascar (L. m. capito (Sauss.)), and Mindanao (Philippines) (L. m. manilensis (Meyen)). Multiplication and concentration are the two most important processes invo...