Asian Longhorned

Beetle (Anoplophora

glabripennis)

The Asian longhorned beetle’s (ALB) introduction to

the United States has earned it the title of pest both

here and in its home country of China. The beetle is

a serious threat to hardwood trees and has no known

natural predator in the United States. If the ALB

becomes established here, it has the potential to

cause more damage than Dutch elm disease, 

chestnut blight, and gypsy moths combined, 

destroying millions of acres of America’s treasured

hardwoods, including national forests and backyard

trees. The beetle has the potential to damage such

industries as lumber, maple syrup, nursery, and

tourism accumulating over $41 billion in losses.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s

(APHIS) eradication efforts and current quarantines

confine ALB infestations to Chicago, New York, and

New Jersey.

Background

Determined by USDA officials to have entered the

United States inside solid wood packing material

(SWPM) from China, the ALB was first discovered in

August 1996 in the Greenpoint neighborhood of

Brooklyn, NY. Within weeks, another infestation was

found on Long Island in Amityville, NY, after officials

learned that infested wood had been moved from

Greenpoint to Amityville.

In July 1998, due to USDA’s national ALB pest

alert campaign, a separate infestation was 

discovered in the Ravenswood area of Chicago. This

discovery prompted APHIS to amend its existing

quarantine of wood movement in infested areas and

place additional restrictions on importing solid wood

packing material into the United States from China

and Hong Kong.

It was in October 2002 that ALB was spotted in

Jersey City, NJ, and most recently, in August 2004,

the ALB was discovered in the Borough of Carteret,

the Avenel section of Woodbridge Township, and in

the nearby cities of Rahway and Linden, NJ. The

most recent discoveries, all within a two–square–mile

area, mark the first time since 2002 that the invasive

exotic pest has been seen outside the quarantined

regions of Chicago, New York, and Jersey City, NJ.

Identification 

The ALB is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in length, is

black and shiny with white spots, and has long 

distinguishable antennae that are banded with black

and white. It attacks many different hardwood trees,

including all species of maple, birch, horse chestnut,

poplar, willow, elm, ash, mimosa (silk tree), 

hackberry, sycamore, mountain ash, and London

plane.

The female ALB chews depressions (oviposition

sites) in the bark of trees to lay eggs. A single

female beetle can lay from 35 to 90 eggs. Hatching

within 10 to 15 days, the worm–like immature beetles

tunnel under tree bark and bore into healthy 

hardwood trees. The beetle larvae feed on living tree

tissue during the fall and winter and, after pupating,

emerge through exit holes during the spring. After

emerging, adult beetles feed on tree exteriors for 2 to

3 days, then mate. Adult beetles remain active only

during summer and early fall months before 

perishing—completing a 1–year life cycle.

Mobility

Since beetle larvae live deep inside trees the

majority of the year, they can easily and unknowingly

be moved in firewood, live trees, or fallen timber.

ALB more commonly spread by natural means; under

their own power they can fly distances greater than

400 yards. Migration may also depend on the 

abundance of suitable host materials (i.e., hardwood

trees).

Damage to Trees

After maturing, ALB leave behind deep, perfectly

round exit holes somewhat larger than the diameter

of a pencil. Tree exit holes may ooze sap, and

deposits of frass (insect waste and sawdust) may 

collect at tree trunk and tree limb bases. Egg deposit

sites can be found by looking for dime–sized, dimpled

impressions in tree bark.

Unseasonable yellowing or drooping of leaves

when the weather has not been especially dry are

also signs that ALB are present. Leaf symptoms

show up when the immature insects, growing inside

the tree, have bored through tissue that carry water

(xylem) from tree roots and nutrients (phloem) from

the leafy canopy above. Once the pest has sufficiently disrupted those pathways, the infected tree will die.

Factsheet

Plant Protection and Quarantine January 2005

APHIS
Detecting an Infestation

APHIS works closely with many agencies and

resources to inspect for and detect ALB, including the

Forest Service (FS) and the Agricultural Marketing

Service. Other cooperators include New York State

Department of Agriculture and Markets, New York

State Department of Environmental Conservation,

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation,

Illinois Department of Agriculture, Chicago

Department of Streets and Sanitation’s Bureau of

Forestry, New Jersey Department of Agriculture, New

Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and

privately contracted–tree service professionals.

ALB inspectors utilize many methods and

resources to conduct tree surveys. Aerial tree 

inspections are performed by trained professionals

using bucket trucks to peer into trees from above. FS

and State smokejumpers (forest firefighters) climb

trees in otherwise inaccessible areas to scrupulously

search for signs of an infestation.

Many interest groups and organizations voluntarily

assist inspectors by searching trees from the ground;

however, anyone with a keen eye and set of binoculars can contribute to this effort.

Increasing Public Awareness

Although conventional methods of newspaper,

radio and television are effective in informing the public, APHIS also works cooperatively with many other

groups to battle the beetle. Groups such as New York

ReLeaf, University of Vermont, Rutgers University, the

Morton Arboretum, and Trees New York assist APHIS

with public outreach efforts. By distributing printed

material and arranging public, community, or organizational forums, these groups and other special interest

contributors broaden efforts to inform the public of this

devastating pest.

APHIS continuously requests the assistance and

cooperation of residents, business owners, and tree

care professionals in identifying, reporting, and providing assistance to the ALB eradication program.

Citizens of New York, Chicago, and New Jersey, are

encouraged to remain aware of signs of an infestation

and current quarantine areas and regulations governing the sale and transport of tree–based products in

and around restricted areas.

Eradication

Currently, the most effective method of eradicating

the ALB is to cut and chip or burn infested trees,

replacing them with nonhost species. Cooperative

research continues in the United States and Asia in

an effort to find acceptable alternatives to tree

removal.

The use of the insecticide imidacloprid has

decreased beetle populations and helps in preventing

the spread of ALB. It has become an additional effective control tool in the eradication of this pest.

APHIS and its cooperators undertake eradication

by imposing quarantines, conducting intensified visual

inspections around confirmed sites to delimit infestations, removing infested and high risk exposed host

trees, and chemically treating host trees as part of an

area–wide integrated pest management strategy.

Collectively, APHIS and New York, Illinois, and New

Jersey State and local governments have invested

more than $168 million to eradicate the ALB and to

protect our Nation’s treasured hardwood.

Protecting Ports of Entry 

APHIS' Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ)

officers diligently conduct visual inspections of

high–risk cargoes and in high–risk areas, such as

cargo distribution warehouses.

To further address the ALB problem at U.S.

ports–of–entry, APHIS has issued pest alerts to ports

of entry personnel, conducted outreach to local

importers, and targeted high–risk importers and

Chinese exporters for outreach and increased inspections. As part of a national survey, APHIS is focusing

on cargo labeled for high–risk destinations (warehouses that have previously received cargoes infested with

beetles). The Agency conducts secondary inspections and surveys of the environs at these destinations.

Additionally, in 1998, APHIS published an interim

rule immediately requiring that all SWPM from China

be completely free of bark and live plant pests and

treated with either preservatives, heat, or fumigation

prior to arrival in the United States. Effective

September 16, 2005, all wooden packaging materials

(e.g., pallets, crates, boxes, and dunnage) imported

into the United States must be heat treated or fumigated with methyl bromide and marked with the

International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) logo

and appropriate country code designating the location

of treatment.

By conducting extensive periodic inspections at

ports of entry, targeting shipments with solid wood

packing materials, APHIS inspectors work to detect

wood–boring pests and locate problem importers.

The ALB is just one of a number of exotic pests

that present a serious threat to U.S. trees. Spruce

bark beetle (Ips typographus) and Mediterranean pine

engraver beetle (Orthotomicuserosus) are two other

nonnative wood–boring pests of concern. APHIS

inspectors search for all such pests on imports of

solid wood products and also on SWPM, such as pallets and crates.
Guarding our Borders

APHIS is working with the U.S. Department of

Homeland Security inspectors at all U.S. ports of entry

and in some foreign countries. These inspectors form

the first line of defense against exotic plant and animal pests and diseases. All international passenger

baggage, cargo, package mail, and conveyances are

subject to inspection at these ports of entry.

By monitoring pests and diseases in other countries, APHIS analyzes threats to U.S. agriculture and

develops import restrictions on commodities based

on their risk of introducing harmful organisms. APHIS

inspectors "preclear" some commodities before they

leave their country of origin. Domestic package mail

and passengers bound from Hawaii or Puerto Rico to

the U.S. mainland are inspected too.

APHIS also develops treatments and rapid

response techniques to fight outbreaks of unwanted

pests as well as detection and monitoring programs to

ensure that foreign pests do not become established

here. Regular surveys and trapping are done to

detect the arrival of new pests or chart the movement

of existing pest populations.

Additional Information

For more information regarding ALB, reporting an

infestation, solid wood packing material, imidacloprid,

or quarantine and regulations, please visit

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/alb/alb.html on the

Internet.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination

in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national

origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to

all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative

means for communication of program information (Braille, large

print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at

(202) 720–2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of

Civil Rights, Room 326–W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence

Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250–9410 or call (202) 720–5964

(voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and

employer.

United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture