Brown pasture looper

Some early damage to canola cotyledons by brown pasture looper in Victoria’s Wimmera

Brown pasture looper (Source: cesar)

 

Where have they been reported?

Heavy infestations of small (2-3 mm) looper caterpillars have been damaging canola and clover paddocks near Natimuk in the Victorian Wimmera. They were prevalent throughout the crops rather than being in patches and were day active. Cotyledons and young leaves were being extensively scalloped. The caterpillars were dark brown with a distinctive wavy yellow line along the back either side of a conspicuous dark band. Other similar sized caterpillars were uniformly green. Caterpillars of a similar appearance have also been reported from an emerging canola crop near Naracoorte, in the Lower South East of South Australia.

About the pest

The caterpillars are probably the brown pasture looper (Ciampa arietaria) which are readily distinguishable by yellow lines on their backs. The green caterpillars may have been very young brown pasture loopers, or less likely, another species. In both situations, the caterpillars, along with heavy redlegged earth mite numbers, needed to be sprayed to avert major crop loss.

Brown pasture looper caterpillars attack canola, lucerne and lupin crops, as well as clover pastures and broadleaved weeds. They have one generation per year and generally become noticeable from July onwards. Brown pasture loopers are often prevalent around patches of weeds, particularly capeweed, and around the edges of crops. However, in this case it appears as if moths have laid their eggs directly on canola and clover plants.

Our advice

Careful crop monitoring for early signs of leaf scalloping is warranted.

For more comprehensive information on the brown pasture loopers, including their occurrence, lifecycle, behaviour, damage symptoms and management strategies, go to brown pasture looper within the new PestNote series.

 

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Sources of field reports on brown pasture looper

Nic Amos – Branch Manager, Kalyx (South Australian Lower South East)

Erin Johns – Agronomist, JSA Independent (Victorian Wimmera)