USDA: Crop-eating caterpillar found in Bradenton is 'serious pest'

BRADENTON -- An invasive and exotic species of caterpillar state and federal authorities have been watching for in Florida has shown up in Bradenton.

The caterpillars, which metamorphose into moths in their adult phase, are aggressive eaters consuming citrus, cotton, tomatoes, flowers and dozens of other agricultural plants.

In mid-June, a pest survey and trapping program operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Florida Department of Agriculture captured three old world bollworm caterpillars near a Bradenton tomato field.

The detection is the first in the United States outside of bollworms intercepted at seaports.

Greg Hodges, assistant director of plant industry with the state agriculture department, said the bollworm is a "serious pest" resistant to a number of pesticides and pesticide-enhanced cotton. Its closest known population is in Brazil, although a couple dozen caterpillars were recently found in Puerto Rico.

Closely related to the corn ear worm, a caterpillar already widespread in the United States, the bollworm might never become a problem if

it establishes here, Hodges said. U.S. farmers use sophisticated rotations of pesticides found effective in suppressing bollworm relatives.

"We hope that is the case," he said Friday.

Damage done to crops by the old world bollworm has been reported at more than $2 billion annually, according to a Florida Department of Agriculture press release. In Brazil in 2013, the yield of field crops was reportedly reduced 35 percent and the cost of insecticide applications for cotton doubled.

The multicolored bollworm caterpillar grows as long as 1.5 inches. In its moth form, it is able to populate a wide area once the species establishes itself.

With the discovery of the three caterpillars, state and federal agencies have stepped up monitoring for the species. They put additional traps in place in the Bradenton area, bringing the total to 205.

The bollworm is one of potentially dozens of exotic bug and insect species, which show up in Florida each year. A lab the Florida Department of Agriculture operates out of Gainesville detects two to three new species every month.

Hodges said pests often come into the state hitchhiking on imported agricultural goods. State seaports monitor for incoming exotic species.

Insects also arrive myriad other ways. It is rare to determine exactly where an exotic species enters the state, Hodges said.

At Port Manatee, U.S. Customs and Border Protection monitor incoming food products and other cargo for exotic bugs and other species. Spokesman Frederick Ryner said custom officials at Port Manatee inspect every piece of imported fruit and other agricultural products for exotic bugs and species.

"We actually go to the warehouses," Ryner said. "We physically take everything out and go through it."

In 2014, agency employees found old world bollworms on a shipment of Jamaican peppers entering the Port of Miami.

The Manatee County Port Authority has no role in screening cargos for pests.

Matt M. Johnson, Herald business reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7027, or on Twitter @MattAtBradenton.

This story was originally published August 1, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "USDA: Crop-eating caterpillar found in Bradenton is 'serious pest' ."