AMITYVILLE, N.Y. -- A Cornell entomologist has confirmed the summer's first adult Asian long-horned beetles have emerged from their larval stage, and several have been found in hardwood trees in Amityville. The beetle attacks and kills hardwoods like the Norway maple.

"We were hoping that we wouldn't find it, but we figured we'd probably find it and we did," said E. Richard Hoebeke, Cornell entomologist and associate curator of the Cornell Insect Collection. Hoebeke (pronounced HO-beck) expected the beetles to emerge from the hardwood trees much earlier than now. When found, the tree must be immediately destroyed because there is no known pesticide. "I don't know why they came out so late this year, but now we know to expect them in late July."

The Asian long-horned beetle, scientifically known as Anoplophora glabripennis, was originally discovered last year in Brooklyn, N.Y., and first identified by Hoebeke late last summer. Since then, federal, state and local officials have been keeping close watch on the Asian long-horned beetle invasion.

Last summer, authorities believed that the half-inch, circular holes found in some Brooklyn trees were being drilled by merry pranksters. Instead, adult Asian long-horned beetles were emerging from the heartwood center of the trees -- boring exit holes through the outer bark.

The beetle measures about 1.5-inches long and has coal-black wing covers sprinkled with startling white spots. The beetle's black-and-white antennae are long and impressive. While vascularly devastating to hardwood trees, the beetle is not harmful to humans. To help people identify it, the U.S. Forestry Service has pinned up "wanted posters" printed on Tyvek paper, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture has printed door-hangers for the area.

Joe Cavey, an entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), based in Riverdale, Md., said that in the past week as many as 15 hardwood trees have been removed in the Amityville area.

"Although we do not have a pheromone trap yet, what is making our job easier to find these beetles is the amount of publicity this beetle is getting. They are showy, obvious beetles," Cavey said.

In the past year, USDA/APHIS inspectors have intercepted the beetle at ports on the West and East Coasts.

Last week, port inspectors with the USDA/APHIS were put on a beetle-watch alert. Inspectors, who typically watch a percentage of the heavy cargo coming in from Asia, now inspect all heavy cargo imported from there. This is the perfect time for heavy-duty inspections, according to Hoebeke, as the beetles emerge now as adults and are ready to reproduce.

After beetle emergence, mating occurs, and eggs are laid in cavities in the hardwood bark and covered with a cement secretion. Eggs hatch, and young larvae bore into the inner bark, feed for a while and, upon growing larger, bore into the tree's heartwood and pupate in the spring. The adult beetle then chews its way out during this time of year, thus leaving the hole.

While USDA inspectors watch the ports, agriculture and forestry officials are combing eastern Long Island, northern New Jersey, southeastern New York state, and southern Connecticut for any signs of the beetles. Parts of Brooklyn, and Amityville already have been quarantined by federal and state officials, which means that cut hardwood cannot be taken out of the area.

Thankfully, the beetle has a low dispersal rate, Cavey said. "It doesn't even fly a mile from its source," he said. "If we keep up our efforts, we'll have a good shot at containing it. It's the best shot at eradicating anything like this in my 21 years of service."

Hoebeke and Cavey are currently preparing a detailed description and diagnosis of the larval stage of the Asian long-horned beetle for an upcoming issue of The Coleopterists Bulletin .

While the New York invasion poses a possible threat to the maple industry and the autumn-foliage tourism industry, Hoebeke noted that the Pacific Northwest has an obvious, vested interest in the wood industry, as well. "If we are importing products from China or Asia and those products come shipped with wood -- such as crates, blocking, pallets, even large spools for wire -- we've got to be concerned," said Hoebeke. "This really should become a national concern."