The newest invasive species is the Asian Longhorned Beetles which poses a threat to most trees. The beetle has not made its way to Indiana but is nearby. Photo by Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. (Contributed)
If found
If Asian Longhorned Beetle is found or suspected, call the DNR at 1-866-663-9684. Reports can be submitted through smartphones by downloading the ReportIN app which is available in the app store or by going to EDDmaps.org/Indiana.
First woodland owners had to contend with the Emerald Ash Borer but now another overseas pest could threaten any tree species and create even greater economic devastation.
Gov. Mike Pence has declared the week of Aug. 25 as Asian Longhorned Beetle Awareness Week to help educate Hoosiers about the potential threat to urban and rural forests in the state.
The beetle has led to the loss of more than 130,00 trees in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Illinois since first being discovered in the United States in 1996, according to the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. The beetle is believed to have arrived in the U.S. inside wood-packing material from Asia.
Fortunately, the beetle has not been found in Indiana but is close by in a Cincinnati suburb and in the Chicago suburbs, said Indiana Department of Natural Resources District Forester Jayson Waterman.
“It does not move very fast at all,” Waterman said. “It’s a very, very large bug and doesn’t travel very far. It eats a lot of different kinds of trees so it doesn’t have to fly any great distance to find something to eat on and lay it’s eggs. This is one bug, if we find it, we can eradicate it relatively easily as opposed to the Emerald Ash Borer which by the time we find it, it has moved 5 miles away.”
The adult beetle is very distinctive with a shiny, jet black body about 1 to 11⁄2 inch long with distinctive white spots and with antennae longer than the beetle body and banded with black and white stripes. They may have blue feet. The bugs chew their way out of the tree, leaving a perfectly round, dime-sized hole. While threatening looking, it is harmless to humans and pets, APHIS said.
Waterman said maple is it’s favorite food source but will eat a long list of other species.
Maple trees make up approximately 34 percent of Indiana’s public trees.
“If it would escape completely, it would be absolutely devastating to our woods,” he warned. “Most of our forests are pretty diverse so with the Ash Borer we lose one species out of the woodlot and the other species respond and we still have a woods left. The Longhorn Beetle eats most everything.”
The places in southern Ohio, Chicago, New York City and New Jersey and in Massachusetts where it has been found, the federal government and state agencies took quick action and eradicated most of the sites and are working on the remainder of the sites, he said.
The preferred eradication method is to cut down the trees and run them through wood chippers. In the process, the bugs are destroyed and if a bug manages to survive the chipper, there is not enough intact material for it to survive, he explained. Other than the Cincinnati infestation, all the other locations have been urban settings so the individual homeowners would lose a tree or two.
The finding in Claremont County, Ohio is at the edge of the rural-urban boundary so it has effected some woodlots as well as street trees. Those effected landowners will essentially lose their woods.
“This is one of those things that if we find it, we need to get on top of it right away,” Waterman said. “If you’re out and about and see exit holes in trees, it’s not necessary this nasty bug but could be native beetles. Native longhorned beetles are usually decomposers, going after dead trees which is not a problem. The Asian variety goes after live trees which is the problem.”
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