Asian Longhorned Beetle
The U. S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) needs your help in preventing the spread of an Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis), a serious pest of hardwood trees. The only known infestation of this insect in the United States exists in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, NY, and in a small area in Amityville, NY.
This Asian longhorned beetle is extremely destructive to trees. It is known to attack healthy maple trees (including Norway, sugar, silver, red and others), horsechestnut, poplar, willow, elm, mulberry and black locust. It also may attack other hardwoods. In New York, the beetle appears to prefer maples and horsechestnuts.
The large, bullet-shaped beetle is shining coal black with white spots and is about an inch long. On its head are very long, horn-shaped antennae (feelers) that are black with white rings and are longer than the insect itself. The plate-shaped feet are black with a whitish-blue upper surface.
Telltale Signs
The white, worm-like immature beetles bore into tree trunks and branches, causing heavy sap flow from wounds and large sawdust accumulation at tree bases. Adult beetles leave round holes that are three-eighths inch or larger in the bark. Yellowing leaves and leaf drop are other indicators that the pest is present.
Preventing the Beetle's Spread
APHIS needs your help to prevent the spread of this serious pest. Please do not move cut wood, stumps, or hardwood nursery stock form those areas previously identified as infected. If you must move cut or trimmed wood, please chip the wood before transporting it from the area. If you suspect that you have found an Asian longhorned beetle in Virginia, please contact the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Plant Protection or submit a sample to your local County Extension Office.
|
Asian
Longhorned
Beetle
Images
Adult Anoplophora glabripennisCross Section of infested Branch
Photographs by Dan Gilrain, Cornell Coop. Extension, Long Island |
If you have questions or comments about this page, or notice errors, please send us an e-mail message at idlab@vt.edu. Be sure to include your location (State) and mailing address. Or, you can contact my office at: Insect Identification Lab, Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0319. Please let us know how you heard about this World Wide Web page.