Insects and Spiders - non-native

A metallic wood-boring beetle (Agrilus cyanescens) on May 23, 2023

Originally reported as Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis)

Submitter has sample

Description of specimen

Dark green metallic, very tiny. Quarter inch in length, short antennae. They look just like the pictures on the identification sheets, although it also looks a lot like the Willow limb Borer, and the Bronze Birch Borer. There are no willows or birches in my yard, or in the neighbor's backyard. Just the one ash tree with a dead top. I froze two specimens and have them in a jar.

Commentary

Thank you for your report!
That is not EAB, but yet another exotic invasive borer in the same genus, Agrilus. That is Agrilus cyanescens, a borer in twinberry. This one does not attack ash. Thanks for being on the lookout!

Tom Valente
May 23, 2023, 7:17 a.m.