Weil am Rhein (dpa/lsw) – After sightings of male Japanese beetles last autumn and in July in the Freiburg area, a female specimen has now been discovered in Baden-Württemberg for the first time. As the Agricultural Technology Center Augustenberg (LTZ) announced on Wednesday, the beetle fell into the trap of the Baden-Württemberg plant protection service in Weil am Rhein (Lörrach district). The catch is particularly worrying because it cannot be ruled out that the beetle has already laid eggs.
The plant protection service of the Freiburg regional council now wants to clarify whether the female beetle is a “stowaway” who arrived in Weil am Rhein with freight or passenger traffic, or whether a beetle population has already built up in southern Baden.
The Japanese beetle, which is about one centimeter in size, comes from Asia and is classified in the EU as a “priority Union quarantine pest” because it can cause major damage in orchards, vineyards and crops. It has hardly any predators in Europe.
The Japanese beetle has a shiny metallic green head, brown wings and small tufts of white hair. It is often confused with the native rose chafer, which is significantly larger and causes no significant damage. In suspicious cases, the LTZ asks Augustenberg to catch the beetle, freeze it and photograph it. The photo should then be sent by e-mail to Pflanzengesundheit-kaefer@ltz.bwl.de, stating the location where it was found.
