The first reported outbreak was in August 1996, when the bugs were discovered in Brooklyn. Since then, they have spread to two neighborhoods in Queens and to the Long Island community of Amityville. In an unrelated infestation, the beetles were found last summer in Chicago and its suburbs. New York and Chicago are the only cities known to have colonies of the intruder insects, which pose a threat to hardwood forests and urban landscapes. Most of the beetle's life is spent as a larva inside a tree, where it chews extensive tunnels, emerging in warm months to mate.
Females then chew through bark to lay their eggs.
Adults die within a few weeks. The only way to control the pests is to cut down the infested trees, chop them up, and burn them to destroy the eggs and larvae. Since 1996, New York City workers have cut down 1,300 trees, Stern said, and 1,800 beetle-resistant trees have been planted in their place. New York officials are trying to figure out how the beetles got to Manhattan and how long they have been there. Officials are focusing on the likelihood that the new site was colonized by beetles from Queens or Brooklyn and does not harbor a new crop of bugs brought in from China.