Asian Long-horned Beetle
(Anoplophora glabripennis)
Introduction |Biology | Hosts | Impacts
The Asian long-horned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) was first discovered in
the US in 1996 on several hardwood trees in Brooklyn, NY. The wood-boring beetle
is believed to have been introduced on wood pallets and wood packing material in
cargo shipments from Asia (the beetle’s native range includes China and Korea).
The infestation quickly spread to Long Island, Manhattan and Queens. In 1998,
the beetle was discovered in Chicago, IL. The beetles were later found in Jersey
City, NJ, in 2002 and in Middlesex and Union counties, NJ, in 2004.
NYC Map.pdf
In 2007 the
insect’s NY range was found to extend to Staten Island and Prall’s Island).
Worcester, MA, was added to the US distribution in August 2008. To our north,
the beetle was discovered in Toronto, Canada, in 2003.
Asian long-horned beetle adults can reach 1½ inch in length with very long
antennae (reaching up to twice the length of the insect’s body). The beetle is
shiny black with small, irregular white markings on its body and antennae. Adult
Asian long-horned beetles are active during the summer and early-autumn months.
After mating, females deposit their eggs in depressions chewed into the bark of
hardwood trees (females can lay 35 to 90 eggs in a season). After hatching
(typically 10-15 days), beetle larvae feed by tunneling under the tree bark into
the cambium (fresh sapwood) for several weeks. The larvae then tunnel into the
tree’s xylem (heartwood) were they feed through the winter, forming galleries in
the trunk and branches of infested trees. Adult beetles chew their way out
through round holes approximately 3/8ths of an inch in diameter, emerging from
June through October (presence of the adult emergence can often be detected from
sawdust around and beneath these holes, and by sap oozing from the holes).
Asian long-horned beetles prefer such hardwood trees as: boxelder (Acer negundo),
Norway maple (Acer plantanoindes), sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), red
maple (Acer rubrum), silver maple (Acer saccharinum), sugar maple (Acer
saccharum), horsechestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), willows (Salix spp.), and
American elm (Ulmus Americana). They will also attack birches (Betula spp.) and
poplars (Populus spp.).
Asian long-horned beetle gallery development and exit holes weaken the integrity
of infested trees and can eventually result in death of severely infested trees.
It is theorized that if the beetle spreads beyond its current North American
range, millions of acres of hardwoods could be killed, potentially causing more
damage than the combined impact of Dutch elm disease, chestnut blight, and gypsy
moths. National and State forests, parks, private backyards could be impacted,
as could such forest dependent industries as lumber, maple syrup, house and
furniture manufacturing, and commercial horticulture nursery stock.