The discovery of a single specimen of Sirex noctilio Fabricius, an Old World woodwasp, raises red flags across the nation because the invasive insect species has devastated up to 80 percent of pine trees in areas of New Zealand, Australia, South America and South Africa. If established in the United States, it would threaten pines coast-to-coast, particularly in the pine-dense states in the Southeast. One target would be loblolly pines in Georgia.
Finding one bug in a trap is no small matter. Where there's one, there's likely to be more, says E. Richard Hoebeke, a Cornell senior extension associate in entomology. "Whenever you find an insect in a trap, it probably is established."
Hoebeke was sifting through thousands of bark beetles caught in routine screening traps set by the New York State Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey (CAPS) program, in search of any of 10 exotic species of bark beetles, when he stumbled across the specimen of S. noctilio .
"I recognized it immediately," says Hoebeke, a taxonomic expert who has examined tens of thousands of insects sent to him from agencies and scholars over the past 25 years. "I'm always on the lookout for exotics -- for any species that are not yet established in the United States and known to be potential pests."
He published a report on his discovery in a recent issue of the Newsletter of the Michigan Entomological Society (50: 24-25, 2005).
Both federal and state regulatory agencies currently are carrying out a large dragnet, setting multiple traps in places they suspect the woodwasp may be doing its destructive work. The effort is widespread because, Hoebeke says, "The pote
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Contact: Susan S. Lang
ssl4@cornell.edu
607-255-3613
Cornell University News Service
12-May-2005