This invasive beetle may be destroying your SC hardwoods right now. Here’s how to help kill it

New Jersey has done it. And so has Illinois.

Now forestry and agricultural officials need your help to add South Carolina to the list of places that have eradicated the invasive and deadly Asian Longhorned Beetle.

The pest is native to China and Korea and likely came to the United States in shipping crates made of untreated wood in the 1990s. It was discovered in South Carolina in 2020 by a homeowner in Hollywood. A Clemson University Department of Plant Industry inspector went to the property and found at least four infested maple trees and captured live beetles.

Since then, a quarantine area in Charleston and in part of Dorchester counties has been in place.

It bores into hardwoods — especially maples — stemming the flow of sap, leaving holes as big as a finger and killing the tree.

So far, 12,593 infested trees have been found in South Carolina and more than 8,000 trees have been removed.

“Adult beetles are emerging now,” said Josie Ryan, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Asian Longhorned Beetle Eradication Program. “You can see them on trees and other nearby items. Finding and reporting infested trees early means we can save more trees.”

The federal agency is asking property owners to look for signs of the beetle, which left unchecked will do severe damage.

An adult beetle has a shiny, black body with white spots, about 1” to 1-1/2” long. Its black and white antennae are longer than its body and its six legs and feet that can appear bluish.

Besides maple, trees that may attract the beetles are birches, buckeyes, elms, and willows and sometimes ash, golden rain tree, katsura, London plane tree, mimosa, mountain ash, and poplar. I

The only way to get rid of them is to cut down the tree and then chip or burn it. The stump should be ground to soil level.

Here’s how the USDA describes the life cycle:

“In its larval stage, the insect feeds deep inside tree trunks and branches. It creates tunnels as it feeds. Then as an adult, the beetle chews its way out, creating 3/4-inch round exit holes. Once the beetles exit a tree, they feed on its leaves and bark before mating, laying eggs, and starting another generation of tree-killing beetles.”

The South Carolina Forestry Commission said eggs take two weeks to two months to hatch depending on the temperature. And the maturation process is usually a year or two.

“Adults tend to remain on the tree they emerged from unless it is already heavily infested,” the commission said. “Adults can fly up to a mile-and-a-half but most individuals do not move farther than half a mile from their origin.

USDA says the telltale signs that they have latched onto your trees are:

• Round exit holes in tree trunks and branches about the size of a dime or smaller.
• Egg sites, or chewed spots, on the bark about the size of a quarter. Sap may weep out from these.
• Sawdust-like material called frass (poop) found on the tree, ground, or tree branches.
• Branches or limbs dying or falling from an otherwise healthy-looking tree.
• The South Carolina Forestry Commission says heavily infested trees will have dying limbs.

The beetle has also been found in Ohio, New York (where it was initially found) and Massachusetts.

The USDA asks anyone who suspects they have the beetles in their trees to call the ALB hotline at 1-866-702-9938, take a photo and if possible capture the beetle in a container and freeze it. You can also report a sighting online by clicking here.

This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 6:00 AM.