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Jakarta Post

Tomcat swarm will end in April

A researcher with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said that the infestation of rove beetles, locally known as tomcat, would die down in late April when regions in the country enter the dry season

The Jakarta Post
Tue, March 27, 2012

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Tomcat swarm will end in April

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researcher with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said that the infestation of rove beetles, locally known as tomcat, would die down in late April when regions in the country enter the dry season.

Hari Sutrisno, head of the ontomology laboratory at LIPI’s Biology Research Center, said the tomcat population would decrease when their prey started to disappear with the arrival of dry weather.

“Plant hoppers, caterpillars, and other food of the tomcat will enter their next life cycle in the dry season; so the swarm will likely be reduced,” he said.

Hari said the population of rove beetles exploded this year because human settlements had encroached on its natural habitat.

“Every insect, including the tomcat, has a period when its population peaks. It’s normal. But this year, the rove beetles’ natural life cycle became disrupted and they began to invade human settlements although that is not their natural habitat,” said Hari.

Naturally, rove beetles are a favorite of farmers, as they prey on plant hoppers and caterpillars, which can ruin farmers’ crops.

“They [tomcat] live in wet rice fields, meadows or bushes with high levels of humidity,” Hari added.

This year, the population of plant pests peaked between March and April, resulting in the soaring number of rove beetles.

Similar swarms of rove beetles have taken place in other countries. In 1966, 2,000 residents in Okinawa, Japan, reportedly suffered severe skin irritation caused by the beetles.

In the 1990s, people in Iran suffered from skin rashes caused by rove beetles. Swarms also invaded Queensland, Australia in 2000 and Malaysia in 2005, while infestations also occurred in India and Bangladesh.

Separately, Rita Kusriastuti, the director for animal-borne disease control at the Directorate General of Disease Control and Environmental Health (P2PL) at the Health Ministry, said on Monday that the best way to protect against Dermatitis linearis or skin irritation from the beetle was to avoid contact with the beetle’s haemolymph, or the poisonous fluid it carries in its circulatory system.

Preventing tomcat from entering human areas remains the most effective way to avoid accidental contact with the toxic bugs.

“Unlike bees, by nature tomcat are not aggressive toward human beings. They will not bite you or inject their poisonous fluid into your skin. But we need to prevent the beetles from entering our houses in order to avoid possible contact,” she told The Jakarta Post.

A swarm of rove beetles first affected several settlements in Surabaya, East Java, before spreading to other cities including Yogyakarta, Bekasi in West Java, and Jakarta. Some residents in these areas reported severe skin irrita-tion from coming into contact with the bug.

Rita said incidental contact with the toxic fluid in the beetles’ circulatory system was the only cause of the skin irritation as, unlike bees and snakes, tomcat had no organ for secretion.

“Those people might accidentally have crushed the beetles, causing direct contact with their poisonous fluids, which eventually led to dermatitis or skin irritation,” she said.

— JP/Elly Burhaini Faizal

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