Invasive species
Single Japanese beetles found in Baden-Württemberg
The Japanese beetle is an invasive species with enormous potential for damage. Individual specimens have now been found in Baden-Württemberg. Photo
© Uli Deck/dpa
The Japanese beetle is eating fields bare and stripping trees bare. The plant protection service has now reported the first finds of the year in the southwest. The experts are now taking a closer look.
For the first time this year, live Japanese beetles are in Baden-Württemberg. Individual male animals were caught in traps set by the plant protection service in Freiburg and in the district of Ludwigsburg, as the Augustenberg Agricultural Technology Center (LTZ) in Karlsruhe reported.
The Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica), which comes from Asia, is classified in the European Union as a pest that can cause particularly severe damage. The animals attack orchards, vineyards, forests, green spaces and gardens, devouring more than 300 plant species. There are no natural enemies in this country.
The experts at the LTZ have been alarmed for some time. A few weeks ago, a large colony of Japanese beetles was discovered in Switzerland near the border.
However, the individual finds now in Baden-Württemberg – further away from the border – did not trigger any special protective measures, said LTZ plant health expert Frauke Rinke. Since 2021, there have been individual finds every year, and the animals were presumably brought in via trucks, for example. This is also assumed for now. The plant protection service immediately increased the number of traps hung in the affected areas to ensure that these are indeed only isolated finds.
The Japanese beetle is only about one centimeter long, has a metallically shiny green head and brown wings. It has five white tufts of hair on each side of the abdomen and two white tufts of hair at the end of the abdomen.