PORT HURON, Mich. – A highly-invasive wood boring bug was intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Port Huron.
It was discovered March 17 by CBP agriculture specialists at a Port Huron railyard.
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According to authorities, a live Asian Long Horn beetle was discovered during an inspection of cargo from Romania. Live larvae were also found. It’s the first time in three years that the Asian Long Horn beetle has been found in Port Huron.
Read: Why the Michigan DNR wants you to start checking trees for this invasive beetle
The Asian Long Horn beetle is an invasive wood-boring beetle that attacks 12 types of hardwood trees, including maples, elms, horse chestnuts, birches and willows. It doesn’t have any predators or diseases to keep the population down.
When it’s in its larval stage, it feeds inside tree trunks and branches during the colder months. It creates tunnels as it feeds and then chews its way out as an adult in the warmer months.
Trees that have been infested will not survive.
The beetle and larvae were found in wood pallets that were stamped as if they were heat treated, authorities believe the actual heat treatment process was not done properly.
