WASHINGTON, D.C. — The USDA is urging the public to take 10 minutes in August to check trees for the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB), said Rhonda Santos, spokesperson for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS).
"This is an insect that will give you pause (when you see it) because it is so large," Santos said. "The body is about an inch-and-a-half, it’s got six legs and a very long antenna. It is pretty showy. It’s got random white spots on its back, and is shiny, with a smooth kind of patent-leather look to it."
First discovered in the United States 1996, it probably arrived in packing material from Asia. It attacks trees found in all states, 13 types in all. ALB was found in New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts and then in Ohio and has led to the loss of 130,000 trees.
The pest has been eradicated from Illinois, New Jersey, parts of New York and an area within Boston. APHIS officials are working with the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) to eliminate the beetle in Clermont County.
The larva of the beetle overwinter in the host tree and turn into a pupa in spring, Santos said. They emerge as the weather gets warmer – August is important because that is when the populations will peak. The adults will mate and lay eggs, and the female can lay 30-90 eggs in her lifetime.
"She will chew into the bark of the tree and lay the eggs in the growing layer, the cambium layer of the tree," she explained. "In two weeks that egg will hatch and turn into a larva. The larva starts out tiny but it can get very big, the size of a pinkie finger, as it chews and feeds on the hardwood of the tree. The tree is essentially being eaten from the inside out. Adults die off after the first hard frost."
Once the insect attacks a tree there is no cure so the tree must be removed, Santos said. Other host trees within a certain area are also removed. Officials establish a quarantine area and survey it. The host trees are then chipped several times.
"It is a large insect and doesn’t like to fly on its own, so as long as it has trees to attack it will stay in that area, even stay on the tree from which it emerged," Santos said.
In Clermont County, the quarantine area is 61 square miles, said Dan Kenny, ODA assistant chief, Plant Health Division. Tree removals began Nov. 14, 2011. As of Aug. 2, 12,127 trees had been removed.
"We’ve made one round of survey," Kenny said. "We are still detecting a lot of infested trees. We’ve got a number of years to go."
The signs of damage from ALB to look for include: dime-sized (1/4-inch or larger), perfectly round exit holes in the tree; oval depressions in the bark where the eggs were laid; sawdust-like material, called frass, on the ground and branches; and sap seeping from wounds on the tree.
If anyone finds an ALB, they should capture it – they are harmless to pets and humans, although they may pinch – take a mobile device photo if possible (for faster emailing), put it in a jar and freeze it. Report the find by calling 866-702-9938.
For more information, visit www.asian longhornedbeetle.com
