Citrus Longhorned Beetle Facts & Information

What Orkin Does

Your local Orkin Pro is trained to help manage citrus longhorned beetles and similar pests. Since every building or home is different, your Orkin Pro will design a unique beetle treatment program for your situation.

Orkin can provide the right solution to keep carpet beetles in their place...out of your home, or business.

Appearance

Adult citrus longhorned beetles are close relatives of the Asian longhorned beetle. They can range from 25 mm to 35mm in length and are a shiny black color with several white spots. Like most beetles, they have four wings: the hindwings are membranous and are covered by hardened forewings called elytra. Females’ elytra are rounded at the tips, while males’ elytra taper towards the tips. Both sexes have antennae that consist of 11 segments.

Behavior

Citrus longhorned beetles are native to Japan, China and Korea. They were first introduced in the United on bonsai plants imported from Korea. They are known to attack many types of trees including pecan, apple, pine, sycamore and willow. They are considered a grave threat to these non-native ecosystems because they attack healthy trees.

Adults can be found on a tree’s leaves, roots, trunks or twigs. They cause damage by feeding on leaves and twigs, burrowing into the wood and depositing eggs in the bark of the trunk.

Reproduction

Each female citrus longhorned beetle typically lays 200 eggs after mating. It takes one to two years for the beetle to completely develop. Females root their way to the base of a tree to find a safe harborage to lay their eggs. Their strong mandibles allow them to make incisions into the bark of the tree. Once an opening is made, the female inserts its egg-laying organ (called an ovipositor) into the incision and injects a single egg into each incision in the bark.

Signs of Infestation

Citrus longhorned beetle infestations are most likely to occur between May and July. Adults are most commonly seen on foliage, but larvae cause the most damage. Other signs include round holes on the trunk of a tree, exposed roots and sawdust-like frass or wood pulp around exit holes at the tree’s base.

More Information

Controlling citrus longhorned beetle infestations begins with a thorough inspection. Infestations are removed by destroying infested trees. The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Inspection Service issued a federal order restricting the import of a number of plant species from several countries (mostly Asian) due to the longhorned beetle’s threat.