Environment

New Beetle Species Poses Billion Dollar Threat To US

by amyellensoden | October 19, 2009 at 03:59 pm

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A foreign beetle population has been located in Mason, Ohio. Warehouse workers at the Downlite factory in Mason, Ohio discovered what they believed to be a unique looking bug and upon researching it, the bug was discovered to be an Asian longhorned beetle.

The beetle was black with white spots and sported whip-like antennae longer than its inch-long body. It was clear to workers that the bug, found scurrying across the concrete floor at the Downlite factory warehouse in Mason, Ohio, didn't belong there.

This beetle species is believed to have been transported on a ship carrying material from a Chinese textile mill. There are already serious implications being considered such as the danger that these beetles pose for American hardwood trees.

The longhorn beetles could cause the US logging and plant industry billions of dollars if not contained. Research is continuing on other possible beetle populations that have been transported from China such as the emerald ash borer, an Asian beetle that got transported over to the US from China in a woodpacking crate.

Officials are hoping to catch and contain these beetle species before permanent damage is done to the various logging industries in the US.

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Dinnovation

at 03:03 on October 20th, 2009

Surely if these issues are becoming commonplace there should be some kind of fumigation of containers at ports in the US. I believe this happens in New Zealand and would of course have cost implications, but nothing compared to the cost of having non-native species creating havoc.