By Mike Kruzman / news@whmi.com


Officials with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources are asking local residents to help them be on the lookout for an invasive beetle that could be harmful to trees.

The Asian longhorned beetle drills perfectly round 3/8-inch holes to emerge from within tree trunks and limbs, where they spend their larval stage chewing through the heartwood. Late summer and early fall is prime mating season for the beetles, and females of the species will often chew oval depressions in trunks or branches to deposit eggs. A tree that has become infested may appear to have a material resembling wood shavings that can be seen at or below exit holes or coming from cracks in the bark.

The beetle has not been found in Michigan, but has been found in 6 states, including neighboring Ohio. Discovering early signs has been found to help as the USDA’s Animal and Plant health Inspection Service has eradicated the insect in 16 out of the 20 locations it has been found in. That’s not come without a cost, though, as the USDA reports spending $750-million on the program over the last 23 years.

The DNR, along with the Michigan Department of Environment, Energy and Great Lakes, and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development are asking residents to take 10 minutes to check their trees for the holes, shavings, or beetle itself. The Asian longhorn beetles range from ¾ to 1.5-inches in length, are shiny black with random white blotches, and their long antennae have alternating black and white segments.

For more information, visit www.Michigan.gov/ALB.

(Photos Courtesy of Kenneth R. Law, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org)