'Helicoverpa Punctigera' in Inland Australia: Then & Now

The CRDC-funded project, "Ecology of 'Helicoverpa punctigera' revisited: implications for Bt resistance", followed our inland trip in May 2009 to determine the extent of winter breeding of the native budworm, 'Helicoverpa punctigera' in the Diamantina and Eyre Creek floodplains, and collect larvae for testing Bt resistance in these populations, in collaboration with Sharon Downes (CSIRO). We have now conducted four field trips to far western Queensland, and established a network of pheromone traps and permanent vegetation monitoring sites in a transect from Bourke to Birdsville and Bedourie. The inland floodplains, where the annual verbine, 'Cullen cinereum' is common, can support continued activity of 'H. punctigera' well into spring/summer in response to floods/winter rains. In contrast to what was found by the Heliothis Inland Research Group (HIRG) in the 80s-90s, very few host plants and larvae are now found in the mulga areas, which serve as a "bridge" between the far western floodplains and deserts and the eastern cropping regions. Substantial moth numbers were caught only in the pheromone traps in the floodplains (Bedourie and Birdsville). Traps at Windorah, Eromanga, Thargomindah and Eulo (in the mulga areas) had very low numbers. In the cropping areas at Bourke and Narrabri, moth numbers were also low. These results suggest that there has been very little immigration from the inland into the cropping regions in recent years.