Asian Longhorned Beetle Remains a Threat to New York City's Trees

The Asian longhorned beetle is about 1 to 1.5 inches long, has a shiny black body with distinctive white spots and long antennae banded black and white.

The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation announced that the destructive Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) reappeared this summer in New York City. The beetles are infesting trees in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Long Island City in Queens, and in the neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Prospect Heights in Brooklyn.

?EUR??,,????'??The Asian longhorned beetle can have a devastating impact,?EUR??,,????'?? said Liam Kavanagh, first deputy commissioner of Parks & Recreation.

?EUR??,,????'??Most of the ALB infestations that have occurred this summer have been found by the public, not pest specialists,?EUR??,,????'?? said Michael Bohne, entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service. ?EUR??,,????'??Early detection of the beetle greatly increases the potential for successful eradication,?EUR??,,????'?? Bohne added.

The beetle, native to China, Japan and Korea, is a voracious pest of deciduous hardwoods, including all species of maple, birch, horse chestnut, poplar, willow, elm, ash, mimosa (silk tree), hackberry, London plane, sycamore and mountain ash. The beetles deposits eggs into hardwoods trees and the larvae feed on tree tissue. When adults, the beetles emerge from their holes and briefly feed on the small twigs and leaves of host trees.

Signs of an infestation include round pits in tree bark, oozing sap, sawdust (from larvae boring), and round exit holes. The ALB emerges in early July and becomes dormant in late October.

Agriculture officials have removed and destroyed more than 7,100 trees in New York-3,969 of which are in New York City.

Residents have been asked not to move firewood or host tree materials out of the New York City quarantine areas.

According to the U.S. Forest Service, there are 5.2 million trees in New York City; Parks & Recreation cares for more than 2.5 million trees.

For more information, visit www.aphis.usda.gov.