Volume 6 • Number 4 • Winter 2008-2009

Worcester’s Asian longhorned beetle crisis has unfolded like the screenplay for a thriller.

That script will keep developing for some time to come, with tense new twists, continued threats and a rare flash of humor. Like any good thriller, its complex cast includes one major villain and some true heroes.

UMass Extension entomologist Bob Childs has been on the lookout for the beetle known as “ALB” for years, and is part of an extended team led by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR), working to make sure there is a happy ending to this saga.

The Asian Longhorned Beetle: Anatomy of an Invasion

Although it may have been lurking there for years, New England’s first Asian longhorned beetle – or ALB – was discovered by a curious resident in Worcester’s Greendale neighborhood on August 1.

By early December, nearly 4,500 infested trees had been identified and slated for removal, with the total projected at 10,000 as the infestation rate topped 28 percent and continued climbing. In October, U.S. Forest service “smoke-jumpers” were called in to join a SWAT team of tree climbers and ground inspectors, and the regulated area was doubled to more than 61 square miles. Although the beetle has not been found outside the Worcester limits, the regulated area extends beyond the Worcester city limits to the surrounding towns of Holden, Boylston, West Boylston, and Shrewsbury.

Bug Eyed

For Bob Childs, this is the Big One.

To the untrained eye, the Asian longhorned beetle might be mistaken for just another exotic pest trying to make a dramatic fashion statement.

But for Bob, a UMass Amherst entomologist and UMass Extension pest specialist who routinely deals with outlaw bugs, this critter is anything but routine. This one threatens to undermine New England’s very identity by threatening to destroy the heart and soul of its foliage and maple syrup production.

Worcester: A City Treescape Under Siege

Think of Worcester, just possibly, as a dress rehearsal.

Outside Worcester County, there may be few reminders of the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) other than an occasional news story.

But as the ALB-regulated area expands beyond the borders of the city of Worcester – along the Route 12 corridor into West Boylston, I-190 toward Holden, and I-290 into Shrewsbury – it is clear that the impact could stretch far beyond central Massachusetts, and that a major unchecked ALB infestation could devastate the New England countryside.

Portrait of a Tree Killer

Even by regular Anoplophora glabripennis standards, which tend to be imposing in any light, the Asian longhorned beetles of Worcester are impressive.

While ALB is typically described as being 1.0-1.5 inches long, many are somewhat smaller, notes Bob Childs of UMass Extension. The Worcester county ALB population, however, seems to hug – and sometimes push – the upper limit. Researchers say they are seeing insects larger than those found in China, the pest’s home turf.

“This is the Darth Vader of insects,” insists Deborah Swanson of UMass Extension in Plymouth County.

ALB Resources

Where to go to learn more about ALB . . .

UMass Extension’s ALB Information Portal

Massachusetts ALB Eradication Program (Mass. Dept. of Agricultural Resources)

Worcester Telegram & Gazette