English name+ cure for tree-eating bug
- Bitte_Kein_Lexus
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English name+ cure for tree-eating bug
Can anyone ID this bug? It's a sort of larvae that eats away at trees. When the side of a tree trunk becomes dark (usually leaves start falling off) the bark will feel soft and chunks of tree can be easily removed. Similar to when a tree is infested with termites, but they look like this:
Pardon the bad focus, but they're around 2-4cm long larvae with a weird ringed body, both white and semi-translucent. They also have rather large pincers attached to their head, but apparently they won't bite humans. They seem to run away (or whatever it is larvae do to move) when exposed to light, or when they sense a predator (me).
The "babies" look like tiny wiggling white larvae.
Any idea what these are? And more importantly, any idea what to do to stop them from infesting nice trees?! Locals seem to think one should chop down the part of the tree that's infected, but I'm sure it's possible to poison those little fuckers. Spotting an infected tree is easy (similar to termite infestation), but I don't know if there's a way to prevent infestation or stop one that's already in progress. They seriously look like mini aliens.
Side question: do termites only attack a dead/dying tree or will they also start eating away live trees? I always assumed they only ate dead wood, but I recently saw them in a tree that seemed sort of healthy (but on its last legs, I assumed because of the termites... Or maybe the termites sensed it was dying and moved in?)
Pardon the bad focus, but they're around 2-4cm long larvae with a weird ringed body, both white and semi-translucent. They also have rather large pincers attached to their head, but apparently they won't bite humans. They seem to run away (or whatever it is larvae do to move) when exposed to light, or when they sense a predator (me).
The "babies" look like tiny wiggling white larvae.
Any idea what these are? And more importantly, any idea what to do to stop them from infesting nice trees?! Locals seem to think one should chop down the part of the tree that's infected, but I'm sure it's possible to poison those little fuckers. Spotting an infected tree is easy (similar to termite infestation), but I don't know if there's a way to prevent infestation or stop one that's already in progress. They seriously look like mini aliens.
Side question: do termites only attack a dead/dying tree or will they also start eating away live trees? I always assumed they only ate dead wood, but I recently saw them in a tree that seemed sort of healthy (but on its last legs, I assumed because of the termites... Or maybe the termites sensed it was dying and moved in?)
Ex Bitteeinbit/LexusSchmexus
Re: English name+ cure for tree-eating bug
While by no means a bug expert, my guess would be a termite queen.
- Bitte_Kein_Lexus
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Re: English name+ cure for tree-eating bug
Thanks for the guess, but unfortunately it isn't as there's a whole bunch of them under the bark (+offspring). You can tell some of them have bored in really deep too. It's something entirely different which I've never seen before. Once I know the English name I could probably easily find some ways to kill them off.
Ex Bitteeinbit/LexusSchmexus
Re: English name+ cure for tree-eating bug
Is there a particular type of tree it goes for?
Re: English name+ cure for tree-eating bug
Might be the larvae of the Asian long-horned beetle? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_long-horned_beetle
- frank lee bent
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Re: English name+ cure for tree-eating bug
it is definitely a boring beetle.
probably a systemic insecticide/larvacide chem will kill them.
probably a systemic insecticide/larvacide chem will kill them.
- Bitte_Kein_Lexus
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Re: English name+ cure for tree-eating bug
Thanks Frank. Yep, it's a boring beetle. Apparently they attack dying trees so I guess it's not "that" bad. Might try to cull the tree but I'm not getting my hopes up... I'll have a look at insecicides but it seems that unless the tree is healthy, it might be hard to stop them from coming back.
Ex Bitteeinbit/LexusSchmexus
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