Latest Woodboring beetles Stories

An invading Asian beetle, the emerald ash borer, has been found in trees in southern Missouri for the first time, scientists say. The beetles were trapped in a camp ground at Wappapello Lake near Poplar Bluff, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. They were recently identified as emerald ash borers. The borers were first discovered near Detroit in 2002. Since then, they have devastated ash trees in Michigan and have spread through at least six states, West Virginia, Maryland,...

By Hazlehurst, John During the last 10 years, mountain pine beetles have killed more than 1.5 million acres of lodgepole pines statewide. Summit County, home to Colorado's ski industry, has been particularly hard hit. The verdant forests that once framed Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Keystone and Beaver Creek are dying, attacked by an invading army of microscopic beetles less than an eighth of an inch in length. Tens of thousands of acres of dead or dying trees now surround...

Amy Gannon, hatchet in hand, sliced a slab of bark from a lodgepole pine tree near Wolf Creek, Mont., and quickly spotted a mountain pine beetle larva no bigger than her pinky fingernail. "This tree's done for," said Gannon, an entomologist with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. As wildfires roar through tinder-dry forests in California, the mountain pine beetle is silently killing even more trees -- hundreds of thousands of acres of towering trees,...

By Karl Puckett Amy Gannon, hatchet in hand, sliced a slab of bark from a lodgepole pine tree near Wolf Creek, Mont., and quickly spotted a mountain pine beetle larva no bigger than her pinkie fingernail. "This tree's done for," said Gannon, an entomologist with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. As wildfires roar through tinder-dry forests in California, the mountain pine beetle is silently killing even more trees -- hundreds of thousands of acres of towering...

By Christine Weeber Pesticides often have larger effects than we intend. Some of those used in responding to the mountain pine beetle infestation are no different. Carbaryl, the active ingredient in the most common sprays used to protect trees against beetles, is one of these. It is a neurotoxin that is dangerous to humans and pets through skin contact, inhalation and ingestion through food or water. And it is highly toxic to bees, stoneflies and some fish. In 2005, 12 groups representing...

The emerald ash borer, a colorful beetle from Asia that has killed tens of millions of ash trees in seven U.S. states, was first reported in the U.S. in 2002. This month, forestry officials announced that the ash borer had been found within the city limits of Chicago. U. of I. Extension entomologist Phil Nixon talks about the infestation with News Bureau Life Sciences Editor Diana Yates. Is it possible to stop this bug? Probably not. It is likely to eventually eliminate ash trees in North...

The USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) today announced that an SRS scientist and other researchers have officially named the fungus responsible for killing redbay and other trees in the coastal plains of northeastern Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.Lead author and Iowa State University Plant Pathologist Tom Harrington, co-author and SRS Plant Pathologist Stephen Fraedrich, and Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Researcher D.N. Aghayeva unveiled the name, Raffaelea...

By Cramer, John Scientists, economists, land managers and others will gather Thursday in Missoula to discuss the worsening infestation of bark beetles across the West. "Red Tree," a one-day public symposium, is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the University of Montana's University Center Ballroom. The symposium is free, but registration is required at 542-4300. Mountain pine beetles and other bark beetles have killed millions of acres of trees from Alaska to the Southwest in recent...

KNOXVILLE - A little green beetle has killed millions of ash trees in Michigan and the bugs may be spreading south. Officials at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are worried the Asian emerald ash borer could be brought into the park on visitors' firewood. Park crews already are waging a costly and time-consuming battle against the hemlock woolly adelgid, an insect that destroys hemlock trees. Biologists say it's only a matter of time before the emerald ash borer reaches the Smokies....

Most of Colorado's lodgepole pine trees stand to be dead within the next 5 years.  In 1996, a bark beetle infestation was detected, and last year it spread over 500,000 acres more than previous years. Federal forestry officials say that this brings the total count of affected acres to 1.5 million. This infestation mainly affects five northern counties which straddle the Continental Divide, and has recently spread to part of southern Wyoming and the Front Range. Those effected counties are...