 |
In China it's called the "Starry Sky" beetle.
Richard Hoebeke |
 |
 |
Joe Gittleman spots a beetle hole
© Richard Hoebeke |
|
|
It Comes from Asia
The Asian longhorn beetle is a large and quite spectacular insect. Native to Japan, Korea, the Malaysian Peninsula, and southeastern China, its scientific name is Anoplophora glabripenis. In China it's called the starry sky beetle because of the white markings on its shiny black body. The beetle’s body is 2.5 to 3.2 centimeters (1 to 1 1/4 inches) long, and it has black-and-white antennae that are longer than its body. In Asia it's found on elms, poplars, willows, and various fruit trees, and breeds mainly in dead trees. It has become more of a pest since the late 1970s, when the beetle infested enormous stands of poplar trees planted across China.
Like other relatives in the genus Anoplophora, the Asian longhorn beetle primarily inhabits various kinds of hardwood trees and is a major hardwood pest. "What makes them an even more serious pest is that they do attack healthy, vigorous trees, not dying trees like a large number of other longhorn beetles do," explains Joe Gittelman of the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
|
| |
|
1 of 6 |
|
 |
|
|
|