Aliens & Pests

A single female specimen of Sirex noctilio, a European woodwasp has been found in Fulton NY. The woodwasp has been devastating pine forests in the southern hemisphere and has the potential to do the same in North America. The woodwasp deposits a toxic mucus and spores of a toxic fungus, Amylostereum areolatum, when it lays eggs in the sapwood of conifers. Primarily a pest of pine, other conifers can be infested as well. The insect was discovered by E. Richard Hoebeke, a Cornell University entomologist, during a routine survey of bark beetle traps from throughout New York. The Sirex specimen is the first female ever caught in the eastern US, but it is highly unlikely to be the last. A female was found in Indiana in 1992 and several males have been intercepted. Federal and state agencies are setting up traps throughout the region to determine whether there are other woodwasps present. If more woodwasps are present, and they probably are, a battle like the ones underway against the Emerald ash borer and Asian longhorned beetle will ensue. Attempts will be made at quarantine. There is an established control method in use in the southern hemisphere using a parasitic nematode

Photo by Kent Loeffler, Cornell University

Governors of three states, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, have declared the week of May 22 Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week. The goal of the declaration, coming at the beginning of the summer travel season, is to try to slow the spread of the insect. People are the major long-distance vectors of the insect, carrying firewood and other wood products out of quarantine areas into uninfested areas. With the season for beetle emergence approaching, this is an especially critical time to avoid spread of infested material.

As the summer camping season begins, Michigan has announced a ban on firewood taken across the Mackinac Bridge to the Upper Peninsula (UP). Checkpoints will be set up on the highway to the bridge and firewood will be confiscated from campers travelling to the UP.

This week is Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week, as the season for emergence of the beetles approaches. Michigan authorities hope to prevent further outbreaks of the beetle in the UP. To date, there have been "EAB"s found in only one location in the UP.