SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Federal officials have begun searching trees near an air force base in Northern California for a destructive Asian beetle officials believe arrived last month in a shipment of tiles from China.
Two Asian longhorned beetles were found outside a privately operated warehouse at the former McClellan Air Force Base outside Sacramento, officials said. A team of U.S. Forest Service smokejumpers, firefighters trained in parachuting into forest fires, have been searching for traces of the insects in trees near the site since Monday.
The beetle, an inch-long, bullet-shaped insect with white freckles and long antennae, is known for its voracious appetite for hardwood trees such as maple, birch, elm, poplar and sycamore.
Outbreaks of the beetles have plagued forests and parks in New York, New Jersey and Illinois since the beetle was discovered in the U.S. in 1996. State and federal agencies have spent $168 million on eradication efforts, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates.
The beetles kill trees because they tunnel into them and lay eggs in their bark. The larvae then consume the trees from the inside before emerging as adults. Insecticides are useless once the eggs hatch.
Oak trees, one of California's best-known hardwoods, are at low risk for infestation, said Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
This is the first time the beetles have been found outdoors in the state, said Matt Mathes, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service.
''Since they can fly, we were concerned more might have escaped, and we don't want an epidemic starting. That's why we undertook such an aggressive approach,'' he said.
A search of nearly 200 trees in the area around the warehouse has not turned up any signs of additional insects, but the state will continue to monitor the area around the warehouse over the next year, said Pat Minyard, director of the state Department of Food and Agriculture. Nearly 200 beetle traps also have been set in the area.
On the Net:
Information on the Asian beetle: www.asian-longhorned-beetle.com
