How did the beetle get here?
A. ALB is primarily found in China and areas of Korea and probably hitchhiked here in solid wood packing material (SWPM), such as crates and pallets, from China. U.S. trade with China has increased exponentially over the past decade. In 2000, imported commodities from China to the United States exceeded $100 billion. As a result, the risk of this plant pest as well as the potential of other invasive insects, plant diseases and weeds being introduced into the United States has increased as well.
Much like the Asian longhorned beetle, it probably arrived in imported wood. Port inspectors have intercepted the small Japanese cedar longhorned beetle over one thousand times. Most finds are in cedar wood, particularly dunnage, from eastern Asia. Dunnage is material used to protect and support cargo in a ships hold. Dunnage could easily be knocked overboard during the unloading of cargo, or adult beetles could emerge from the wood and fly to the nearby shore where trees in the cedar family are sometimes plentiful. We have learned much since the small Japanese cedar longhorn was discovered in Fairfield and New Haven Counties in 1998. We know that the adults, which live about 20 days, are active between late March and early June. The adult beetles are about 1/2-inch in length (Photograph of adults). The male is mostly iridescent bluish black with red at the corners of the wing covers, and the female is mostly reddish brown. Adults mate on their host plants, and then females lay eggs un
There are two theories, the first being that they spread from known government releases of the insect that date back to 1916. The beetle is a highly efficient killer of aphids, a soft-bodied plant pest that does enormous damage to landscape plants and crops alike. Scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in one test, unleashed the beetles on aphids feeding on pecan trees in Georgia. In another, they released them in the Yakima Valley of Washington State to go after aphids that afflict apple trees. The second theory holds that the ladybugs arrived as stowaways on freighters using the port of New Orleans. “Irrespective,” said Raupp, “it’s now broadly distributed throughout North America, and it does have a wonderful impact on lots of pesky aphids out there. It really is a Jekyll and Hyde type of insect.” In an experiment in the spring, he was testing a new aphid pesticide on roses and barberries, but the ladybugs showed up to take care of the unsprayed pests on his control shr
