NY close to eradicating Asian Longhorned Beetle

Each August, the Asian Longhorned beetle emerges from the New York City trees it has been devouring from the inside out. But thanks to an aggressive campaign that included felling 6,275 infected trees citywide, the USDA said Manhattan is only about a year away from a declaration of total eradication. Though making headway, New Jersey and Staten Island are set to achieve eradication in 2014 and Brooklyn, Queens, and parts of Long Island will most likely take several more years.

The Asian Longhorned beetle is shiny jet black with splotchy white spots on its one-inch long body, has six bluish tinted legs and an antenna longer than the length of its body. Incredibly prolific, a female will lay up to 90 eggs under the bark of the tree that it attacks during its lifetime. When it emerges, often in late summer, it leaves dime-sized hole in trees. Researchers estimate that patient zero most likely arrived in Brooklyn in wood packing materials for water pipes shipped from China in the late 80s or early 90s. It went undetected for several years — until dime size holes began appearing in Brooklyn trees in 1996. By then it was too late and the  beetle had already established a robust population.