Do cane toads eat Asian longhorned beetles?
Perhaps the top news story in all Chicago area media is the discovery of Asian longhorned beetles, mature and breeding in trees in a heavily forested residential neighborhood in the City. Quick surveys revealed the extent of the infestation to include two beautiful cemeteries (Rosehill and Graceland) and an area from the Clark Street beach ridge west to the Chicago River. The beetles apparently arrived as larvae in wooden crates shipped from their native China. Infested trees will have to be cut and burned as soon as the beetles go into hibernation. Homeowners and residents of the area are (of course) quite upset and concerned. Introductions of non-native plants and animals have been reported regularly in this column. Readers are strongly urged never to release an animal that has been taken into captivity – especially not one that doesn’t even come from the area! Otherwise environmental disruption is caiman soon to a neighborhood near you, too. Entomologists have also recorded two new
