Subject: Unknown Flying Insect
Location: Reseda, Ca
June 19, 2016 8:52 pm
Hi, there are flying beetle like bugs that are eating a tree in our backyard. My dad started to notice them this year and doesn’t remember seeing then before. Please help!
Signature: Won Cho
Dear Won Cho,
You have two different insects here, in different orders. Two of them are Glassy Winged Sharpshooters that feed by sucking fluids from plants, and they do the most damage to new shoots. According to BugGuide: “A major vector of Pierce’s disease on grape. Usually not a serious pest within its native range, southeastern US. This species was accidentally introduced into so. California in the early 1990s, probably with ornamental or agricultural stock. There, it has become a serious threat to viticulture. The biggest problem is that it can spread the disease-causing bacterium Xylella fastidiosa.” According to the University of California Integrated Pest Management System site: “The real problem associated with glassy-winged sharpshooter, however, is that it can spread the disease-causing bacterium Xylella fastidiosa from one plant to another. This bacterium is the causal agent of devastating plant diseases such as Pierce’s disease of grape, oleander leaf scorch, almond leaf scorch and mulberry leaf scorch. Other diseases to landscape plants in California include sweet gum dieback and cherry plum leaf scorch. Outside of California, other strains of X. fastidiosa cause phony peach disease, plum leaf scald, leaf scorches in sycamore, elm, maple, and oak,and variegated citrus chlorosis, but these diseases have not been detected in California. It should be noted that the strain of X. fastidiosa that causes oleander leaf scorch will not cause Pierce’s disease in grapes and the strain of X. fastidiosa that causes mulberry leaf scorch does not cause disease in oleanders or grapes. At this time there is no cure for any of these diseases.” The other insect we can only identify to the family. It is a Metallic Borer Beetle in the family Buprestidae, and the larvae bore in the wood. They are generally very host specific. Telling us what tree is affected may help in further identifications.
