Asian Longhorned Beetle in Easton? Not yet

Diane Shannon, an observant member of the Garden Club, dropped off a tupperware container at the NRT yesterday. It held a large, long horned beetle with white spots. The NRT is happy to serve as the town's science center and gets several identification questions annually. We jumped on this one because the bug certainly bore a strong resemblance to the dread Asian Long Horned Beetle that has killed hundreds of trees in central Massachusetts. We quickly Googled the ALB and came upon the contact page for a Massachusetts Department of Agriculture botanist named Jennifer Forman-Orth. Wait a second, Jenny Forman was student of mine at Randolph who is a leading expert on Japanese Knotweed, a tenacious invasive plant. A quick call revealed it was indeed Randolph Jenny who is now the go-to person on all plant pests, pathogens, and weeds in Massachusetts. She publishes the Massachusetts Introduced Pests Outreach Blog which can be found here. Turns out we could have accessed any of a number of pages Jenny has posted on ALB identification, but we had her on the phone and quickly e-mailed a photo of the bug. Jenny was back on the phone in two minutes with the good news that the beetle was a native species often confused with the ALB called the White Spotted Sawyer. We had a female with rather more distinct white spots than was normal, but the white semi-circle at the base of the neck was enough to make the ID. Also, White Spotted Sawyers have a pitted shell that looks moldy compared to the shiny shell of the ALB. Check out the comparison below:

White Spotted Sawyers prefer white pine and spruce while the ALB favors maple and several other hardwood species. The major damage by both beetles is caused by the larva that tunnel into the trunks of trees, but Sawyers attack trees that are already dead or nearly dead while the ALB attack healthy trees. A pile of pine logs waiting at a sawmill are a Sawyers paradise. By the way, the sound that the beetle makes as it chews is said to resemble the sound of a saw, hence the common name. Dead wood isn't all that nutritious so it takes the Sawyer two years to complete its life cycle in New England often with a little cannibalism of fellow larva thrown in. Adult Sawyers are clumsy fliers who will plop down just about anywhere for a rest so they are often seen by people. That white semi-circular spot at the top of the wings/base of the neck allows for instant identification once you know about it, but it's important to be sure! In Worcester County over 25,000 trees had to be removed due to ALB infestation. The great fear is that the ALB will move north and devastate maple syrup production. A number of posters about ALB identification will be on hand at Sheep Pasture's Visitors Center next week-come by and check them out.