AN unprecedented outbreak of spur-throated locusts is devastating crops in northern Victoria.
Victorian Plague Locust Commissioner Gordon Berg said clusters of spur-throated locusts - a tropical pest usually found in Queensland - had unexpectedly surfaced in Victoria for the first time and threatened to "attack an array of crops".
Mr Berg said the hoppers were attacking citrus crops in Sunraysia and at Tungamah, near Shepparton, but warned they had a "much bigger appetite" than the smaller Australian plague locust.
Meanwhile Victoria's farms are not expected to be threatened by large swarms of locusts from NSW this autumn.
APLC acting director Walter Spratt said a ground survey at the weekend had found the bulk of Victoria's locusts were between Maryborough and the South Australian border and as far south as Hamilton.
"The thickest densities are in Ararat and towards Avoca and they're thick around Horsham, St Arnaud and Wycheproof," Mr Spratt said.
He said the adults were laying eggs which could hatch and destroy young grain crops in the next few months.
