The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed a sighting of an Asian Long-horned Beetle (ALHB) in the province of Ontario.

In a release, the agency said the pest was found in an industrial area near the Pearson International Airport in Mississauga.

A CFIA release said the pest was known to exist in the cities of Toronto and Vaughan between 2003 and 2007, but a quarantine area was established with control efforts. Based on international standards the pest was considered eradicated from this area in 2013 after no sightings were made in five years.

"This new find is outside of the eradicated area. Based on the CFIA's national plant pest surveillance program, the ALHB has never been detected elsewhere in Canada," the release said.

While the pest attacks several common species of hardwood trees such as maple, it can also infest fruit trees such as apple, cherry, pear and plum.

"It eventually kills infested trees. It can fly short distances but can also spread through the movement of infested wood," the release said.

The agency has called on residents to check trees regularly for signs of ALHB, and urged them not to move firewood.

"Signs of infestation may include perfectly round exit holes (about 3/8 to 1/2 inch in diameter) made by adult beetles when they emerge from trees; pockmarks on tree trunks and branches where female beetles deposit eggs; frass (wood shavings and coarse saw dust) produced by larval feeding and tunneling; early fall coloration of leaves or dead branches, and running sap produced by the tree at the egg laying sites, or in response to larval tunneling."

In May, former CFIA inspector and Agriculture Union president Bob Kingston slammed Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for cutting jobs, telling www.freshfruitportal.com there had been a high risk of undetected pest incursions since the Harper administration began “streamlining” quarantine services.

Photo: USDA, Anson Eaglin

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