New invasive insect feeding on elm trees in NC
The elm zigzag sawfly makes a zigzag pattern on elm leaves as it feeds.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — An invasive insect that’s originally from East Asia has arrived in North Carolina, according to researchers at NC State.
The elm zigzag sawfly, or Aproceros leucopoda, first arrived in the United States in 2021. It feeds on the leaves of elm trees, and researchers are not sure what that will do in the long-run to the ecology of the area.
A new paper tracking the insect’s spread reports the sawfly first arrived in North Carolina in 2022.
“This is a very new invasive species first found in Canada in 2020 and in the U.S. in Virginia in 2021,” said the study’s first author Kelly Oten, assistant professor of forest health at NC State.
“In 2022, four additional states confirmed it. It happened very quickly. This paper was our effort to document the very first stages of the invasion, and let people know where it is, and what we know about its biology and management so far.”
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