MIXED BAG
62 Nebraskaland • December 2019
In April 2018, a velvet longhorned beetle (Trichoferus
campestris) emerged from a table built from black walnut
wood harvested in southeastern South Dakota, near
the Nebraska border. Due to this find, the Nebraska
Department of Agriculture (NDA) set and monitored traps
for velvet longhorned beetle. In 2018, traps were set at
numerous locations across the state, which included parks,
campgrounds and nurseries. Three funnel traps baited with
an ethanol lure were set at each location, and all traps were
negative.
Trapping continued in 2019, using a new lure from USDA,
called Trichoferone,
designed more specifically to attract
these beetles. The lure worked well, and multiple specimens
were collected from traps in Cass, Douglas and Keith
counties.
The velvet longhorned beetle is an exotic, invasive insect,
native to parts of Asia and eastern Russia. Likely introduced
on solid wood packing material, this beetle has been collected
in at least 16 states since 2000, from New York to Utah, and is
considered established in Illinois, Minnesota and Utah.
Most commonly found in apple and mulberry trees, but
also known to infest walnut, honey locust,
maple, birch, spruce, pine, willow, elm, cherry
and peach trees, this borer infests both healthy
and declining trees, and can develop
in dead trees, which makes is very adept at moving in
firewood.
Adults are ½ to ¾ inch in length, with antennae nearly
as long as their bodies. They are brown with scattered,
light colored hairs on their thorax and wing covers, and are
very difficult to distinguish from some of Nebraska's native
beetles. Adults emerge April through August. Larvae hatch
from eggs laid on tree bark, and bore into the tree, feeding
under the bark. Late in the season, larvae bore deeper into
the wood to overwinter, pupate and emerge in the spring.
Velvet longhorned beetles can easily be transported by
moving firewood. Leave your firewood at home, and instead
obtain it where you plan to burn it. Purchase locally-sourced
firewood for home heating. Nearly 20 states regulate firewood
movement through laws and quarantines, and several
federal quarantines also regulate firewood movement. Visit
dontmovefirewood.org for more information.
To report a possible VLB, contact the Nebraska Department
of Agriculture at 402-471-2351 or agr.plant@nebraska.gov.
VELVET LONGHORNED BEETLE – AN UPDATE
By Julie Van Meter, State Entomologist, Nebraska
Department of Agriculture
