Exotic long-horned beetles
Long-horned beetles are highly invasive species that can quickly kill trees and endanger horticultural industries.
There are 2 types of long-horned beetle that are not present in Australia, which would cause serious environmental issues if introduced.
Long-horned beetles threatening Australia
Monochamus species
Sawyer beetles act as a vector of pine wilt nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), which could have destructive impacts on pine species. These include:
- Japanese sawyer beetle (M. alternatus)
- black pine sawyer beetle (M. galloprovincialis)
- obtuse sawyer beetle (M. obtusus)
- white spotted sawyer beetle (M. scutellatus)
- southern pine sawyer beetle (M. titillator).
Anoplophora species
There are more than 50 species in this genus. These beetles severely damage commercial and environmental tree species overseas.
Exotic beetles in the Anoplophora species that are of concern to South Australia include:
- Asian long-horned beetle (A. glabripennis) and citrus long-horned beetle (A. chinensis), which have similar characteristics
- white-spotted long-horned beetle (A malasiaca).
The white-spotted long-horned beetle have a wide host range, attacking species in:
- citrus
- willow
- Acer
- blueberry
- Alnus
- Casuarina.
These beetles could devastate Australia’s citrus plantations and destroy forests and native bush.