Pest control professionals bring to the table a great deal of knowledge about pesticides as well as pests that they encounter in the areas of the country that they provide services for. In addition to providing excellent customer service and eradicating pests, it’s important for a pest control professional to always keep their eyes peeled for other potential pests that could cause damage to a customer’s home, business, or even the environment.
PCT Magazine reported on August 2, 2012 that a technician from a NJ pest control company was providing services for a business in Pennsylvania when he encountered a strange looking beetle which knocked a maintenance worker in the head. Not recognizing the specimen, he collected it for later identification. Reports are that the beetle looked similar to the Asian longhorned beetle, but the markings were not exactly correct.
The NJ pest control company’s staff entomologist contacted the Pennsylvania Bureau of Plant Health and the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for help identifying the beetle. It was confirmed that the unidentified beetle was not the feared Asian longhorned beetle that would burrow into trees causing extensive damage. The trouble was that nobody knew what kind of beetle it was.
It did not take long for an entourage of entomologist big wigs to descend on the mystery beetles hide-a-way. The inspection of the facility revealed pallets of wood that were burrowed into and larvae from the offending beetle. Inspection of the surrounding neighborhood revealed that the beetles had spread to trees across the street. Those trees were cut down and destroyed in hopes of ending the beetle’s path of destruction.
The beetle has now been identified as the Yellow Spotted Longhorn Beetle which is native to Southeast Asia. The insect now resides at the Smithsonian.
This is just another reason why you should always hire a NJ pest control professional or one for your local area. Their extensive knowledge cannot be duplicated!
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One response to “Non-Native Invasive Beetle Found By Pest Control Professional”
Just to clarify, i was the tech who found the beetle, and i did have a pretty good idea at the time it was not a sawyer, i was just not 100% sure it was a ALB. I have horticulture training as well as pest control, so i knew immediately this needed to be taken seriously. Had our entomologist not taken this on i would have taken it to the Penn state extension for ID. Thankfully it was handled quickly and effectively and we potentially saved housands of tree’s.