Be on the alert for this significant pest of trees.
Look for trees damaged by Asian longhorned beetles. Characteristic damage includes entry and exit wounds, sometimes with sap flowing out of the trunks and branches, and sawdust piled up at the bases of trees. For positive identification of insect specimens or damage, please contact your local USDA-APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine office or the State Plant Health Director for your State.
Figure 1—Adult Asian longhorned beetle. This inch-long insect is black with white spots; it has long antennae that span its body length.
Figure 2—Trunk of a tree killed by Asian longhorned beetles. The rust-colored hole at the lower left was made by an adult female when she laid a single egg and then covered it with a protective secretion. The big, dark holes a half-inch or more in diametermark the spot where one Asian longhorned beetle adult exited the tree. These openings have well-defined edges, resembling precisely drilled holes.
Photo credit: APHIS photos by Ken Law.
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Program Aid No. 1618
Issued December 1997
Slightly revised August 1998
This card supersedes Program Aid No. 1593, issued May1997.