Asian Long Horned Beetle
Symptom - Holes in the trunk large enough to accommodate a pen, sometimes with sawdust piles at the base of the trunk; dead branches starting at top of the tree.

The Asian Long Horned Beetle is a new illegal introduction to American insect populations; right now mostly in the eastern mid-Atlantic and New York City areas. It bores into the trunks of many kinds of shade trees including maples, elms, ornamental cherry, beech and ash.

It is large black beetle with white spots. Females are up to 2 inches long and males are slightly smaller. Larvae become large (as long as 1.5 inches), but are never seen because they are concealed within their galleries as they bore through the wood. Unfortunately this borer colonizes the tops of trees first, and the infestation spreads downward making it very difficult to spot them early. Most trees that are infested will die because the insect is so hard to control.

These beetles will attack almost any shade tree especially maples, elms, ornamental cherry, beech and ash.

Because they are relatively new on the scene there is not a lot of research in terms of controls. In most cases, when a tree is discovered having Asian Long Horned Beetles it is destroyed being of value only as fire wood. On smaller trees, predatory nematodes may offer some promise.