Emerald Ash Borer

General:   In the Midwest the AEB has been detected in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, southern Ontario, Canada and most recently in Kane and Cook counties, Illinois. It is extremely injurous to ash trees, with tens of millions of trees either dead or dying in the region. Forests in our region can be >10% ash trees and the trees are also favorites for landscaping. It is easy to see that beetle can cause great harm to forests and property. Information attributed to the Cooperative Emerald Ash Borer Project.

Description:   Emerald Ash Borers (EABs) are 1/3 to 1/2 in. long and emerald green.

Distribution:   Native to China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, the Russian Far East, and Taiwan. First seen in US in Detroit, MI in summer 2002. Now known from many locations from Maryland through northern Illinois.

Hosts:   Beetles attack native ashes (blue, white, black, green) and exotic ones (Chinese, Japanese, Chinese flowering, Manchurian). They have also attacked Manchurian walnut (genus Juglans), Japanese wingnuts (genus Pterocarya), and Japanese Elm and Chinese cork bark elm (genus Ulmus). Information from Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Life cycle:   Annual Cycle. Adult beetles emerge primarily in late spring through 1/8-in.-wide, D-shaped holes in the bark, and are present into mid-July. Eggs are laid one or two at a time between bark flakes, hatch and larvae tunnel into cambium. White larvae grow to 1 1/2 in. long and overwinter as pupae in the cambium.

Signs of Attack:   Tops of trees are attacked first, causing death of branch tips. Attack progresses down trunk until death of tree two to three years later. Look for D-shaped adult exit holes and sloughing bark with S-shaped larval tunnels.

Look-Alikes:   Two-lined Chestnut Borers (on oaks and chestnuts) and Bronze Birch Borers (on birches) produce similar damage and leave a D-shape exit holes. Two-lined Chestnut borers are black with longitudinal, light lines and the Bronze Birch Borer is bronze (males may have greenish head). Cuckoo wasps are small and green but have two pairs of membranous wings and narrow waist. Six-spotted Green Tiger Beetles have white dots at periphery of body and predatory jaws.

How to prevent spread:   It is imperative to refrain from transporting whole ash trees, limbs, branches, untreated ash lumber with bark attached, uncomposted chips larger than 1 in. in dia. from areas of quaranteen. This includes firewood.

Other Link(s):  

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/eab/

http://www.emeraldashborer.info/AGENCIES.cfm

http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/eab/pubs/nr/nr_mi.htm

http://www.in.gov/dnr/entomolo/pestinfo/ashborer.htm