Upstate Pool Owners Keep An Eye Out For The Asian Longhorn Beetle.

The Asian longhorn beetle is a woodboring insect that feeds on a variety of hardwoods including Maple. The 1.5-inch beetles are native to China and Korea. If you have a pool New York State wants your help in controlling an invasive pest.

August is the month the Department of Environmental Conservation runs its annual Asian longhorn beetle swimming pool survey. This is the time of the year when the insects become active outside of the trees they are infesting.

Volunteers are asked to check pool skimmers and filters and email a picture of suspected Asian longhorn beetles. The 1.5-inch beetles are black with white spots on their wing cases and their black and white antennae can be twice as long as their bodies.

Beetles have been found in New York City and Long Island and those populations were eradicated. DEC officials say the pests could spread."Since maples are a preferred host, the spread of the beetle into the rest of the state would mean devastating impacts to the maple syrup industry through the loss of healthy sugar bush," according to a DEC fact sheet.

[ syracuse ]