This comes as the pest is said to be causing massive damage to crops in countries north of our borders, including Zimbabwe and Malawi and even parts of Nigeria. The fall army worm is the larvae of a type of moth known as Spodoptera frugiperda.

Professor Schalk Louw of the University of the Free State’s department of zoology and entomology says the species belongs to the same family as the African army worm, Spodoptera Exempta, which is a common pest for local crop farmers.

“To date, there are 31 species of this genus of the order lepidoptera, which is the moths and the butterflies. Of the 31 species, we have seven on the continent. Now with this new guy, we may now have to say we have eight.”

He says the fall army worm tends to favour tropical or sub-tropical climates, which would make it a greater threat for producers in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and even sugar cane farmers in KZN. Unfortunately, the different species are very difficult to differentiate.

“Separating them from one another is not easy. You look at the larvae – the worms as people incorrectly call them – the immature stages. They have all sorts of colour patterns on them but those patterns have all sorts of variations so it is not easy to separate them from one another.

“But the big thing is that people will see Spodoptera exempta, which is our commando worm, and they’ll think that’s a problem and will go ahead making people aware of it in any case. In that will come the bead army worm, the fall army worm and all those things as different species.”

Farmers Weekly is meanwhile reporting that there are reports of suspected cases of fall army worm (FAW) in Limpopo, the Free State and North West. It states that specimens have been collected by the Agricultural Research Council and the North West University and will now need to be identified by a taxonomist.

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