In 1998 the Asian long horn beetle invaded parts of Chicago after appearing in New York as early as the 1980’s. These beetles are believed to have arrived in the wood crates and cargo pallets in Chinese imports. The Asian long horn beetles are big, shiny, and black insects with black spots. Adults are about one inch long. They have antennae that are longer than their body and have alternating white and black rings on them. The problem with the Asian long horn beetles is that they feed on trees. The females chew their way into the bark and lay eggs. When the eggs hatch into larva, the larva eats away at the inside of the tree causing sap flow from the wounds. When the beetle is mature it eats its way back outside of the tree damaging it and creating sawdust accumulation at the base of the tree. After the beetle comes out of the tree it infested, it leaves a hole about half an inch to a full inch in diameter. After they reach the outside of the tree they feed on the little twigs in the tree. These Asian long horn beetles are a very big problem. The beetles are responsible for the destruction of a combined total of eight thousand trees in New York and Illinois.

The Asian long horn beetle has many negative effects on the ecosystems that revolve around trees. The Asian long horn beetles attack just about any hardwood trees, but they prefer maple and chestnut trees. They like healthy trees as well as recently felled trees. Trees that are less than six inches in diameter can be killed by just twelve of the beetles. This is a huge impact on the trees in the future. Normally the trees that are less than six inches in circumference are the younger trees. When the older trees die there will be no other trees to take their place. When the trees die the animals, birds, and insects that live in them will not have a home anymore. There will also be a loss of shade because trees provide shade. The result of less shade will make the city hotter and more uncomfortable. Also it could slightly reduce oxygen production from photosynthesis. Another problem is that the Asian long horn beetle can live very long. It is the longest living insect ever recorded, living up to forty years. That means that they can keep reproducing. They will multiply and be able to affect more and more trees. The beetle problem is very bad in Chicago especially. Whole city blocks have lost all of their trees because of the Asian beetle.

Unfortunately the Asian long horn beetle has no predators and there is no biological or chemical control method to stop it. The only way to stop them is to cut down an infested tree and burn it. An inoculation program using the insecticide imidacloprid is attempting to save the trees in the infestation areas. Sadly, this does not get rid of the beetles in the large trees and save them, but the insecticide may prevent them from spreading to un-infested trees. Another step they are taking to eradicate the beetles is to quarantine the places that are known to have the beetles living in the trees to avoid the spread of them. What the officials are doing is the best way to go because it is preventing the spread of the infestation. If something new could be done it would be a way to save the trees that are infested and being destroyed by the beetles. Stopping exotic species from coming to the U.S. is the best way to keep this problem from happening again.