Wednesday, July 11, 2007

America, Know Thyself

I was reading this article in the NYTimes about the possibly extinction of the trees used to make ash baseball bats when I came across this interesting tidbit:
Still, the emerald ash borer, or Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, is the most immediate threat. Discovered in the United States near Detroit in 2002, the beetles, which are shiny green, will destroy a tree in two to three years. The larvae tunnel inside the trees, cutting off water and food.
Wait wait... a new insect species was discovered in Detroit in 2002? It seems a little crazy that in a super-advanced nation such as ours, we still don't know all the species in our own borders.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

According to my research, these insects are indigenous to Asia, but they were found to have migrated to dear old Michigan in 2002. The issue isn't knowing what's here already, it's the fact that we've been INVADED!!

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