Invasive beetle species detected in Sacramento County; eradication plan activated
A destructive beetle species recently detected in two parts of Sacramento County poses a threat to a wide array of plants, trees, fruits and vegetables, county officials said this week.
Japanese Beetles are an invasive species in California, where they have no natural predators.
“Adults feed on the foliage and fruits of several hundred species of fruit trees, ornamental trees, shrubs, vines, and field and vegetable crops,” Sacramento County said in a Monday news release. “Among the plants most commonly damaged are apples, pears, cherries, corn, grapes, roses and turf grass.”
Sacramento County’s agricultural commissioner and the California Department of Food and Agriculture are beginning the second year of an eradication treatment program after more than 200 of the non-native beetles were detected between June 2020 and August 2021 in the Arden Arcade neighborhood and in Rancho Cordova.
Traps captured 231 beetles across those two areas, according to a notification from the Department of Food and Agriculture. The state proclaimed an emergency program to address the infestations on Feb. 17, and residents in the affected neighborhoods were notified.
The county is implementing several treatment plans in a 200-meter radius around detection sites, using traps, pesticides and other measures to mitigate infestation.
One cluster is just south of Interstate 80 in Arden Arcade. The others are near Highway 50 and Mather Field Road in Rancho Cordova, as well as a neighborhood northeast of Mather Airport.
The bugs have a “metallic green thorax,” “coppery-brown wing covers” and “small tufts of white hairs” near their rear ends, according to a Food and Agriculture pamphlet. They’re about half the diameter of a penny.
Residents are more likely to find signs of their damage, including “skeletonized leaves and large, irregular holes,” than to spot the beetles themselves, according to the county news release.
Japanese Beetles typically “hitchhike” to California on airplanes, according to the Department of Food and Agriculture, and they are often found at airports and air freight facilities.
Officials in 2020 detected 92 adults in settings not related to air travel, all in Sacramento County: 28 in the county, and 64 within Rancho Cordova city limits.
None were detected statewide in 2019, and just two in 2018, both in Seaside.
The emergency program is in place through August 2024, and treatment plans will be triggered by the discovery of a single Japanese Beetle.
Anyone who spots a Japanese Beetle in California should contact the state’s pest hotline at 800-491-1899.
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 1:53 PM.
