The Asian longhorned beetle is native to China, Japan, and Korea. This bark beetle has a wide host range in Asia, and in recent years populations have established in small areas of New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Illinois. Examples of the beetle's preferred host trees commonly found in the US include maple, birch, poplar, willow, elm, and mulberry.
Lindcove Research and Extension Center (LREC) is participating in a study being conducted in Massachusetts by Dr. Juli Gould and Dr. David Williams of USDA-APHIS at the Otis Lab in Buzzards Bay, MA. In China, the researchers found a parasitic beetle and four species of parasitic wasp that kill developing bark beetle larvae, and imported these natural enemies to the quarantine facility in Massachusetts. The host specificity tests they are conducting include a number of species of native bark beetles.
LREC has several non-fruiting mulberry trees and periodically the researchers at the Otis Lab ask us to ship branches and small logs from the trees for use in caged studies as egg laying sites for adult female beetles as well as food for developing larvae.
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