Monday, March 13, 2006

Mango Tango

(Sorry for the delay in posting this, Blogger was being cranky last night)

According to this report at ABC News, agriculture inspectors from U.S. Customs and Border Protection discovered a long-horned beetle (Rhytidodera bowringii) at a port in Miami Florida - the first incidence of this species known in the U.S.. The beetle is already well-known in Asia for decimating mango crops - a cause for alarm since Florida is the number one U.S. producer of mangoes. The discovery was made on a ship carrying granite from Hong Kong.

Bonus points to ABC News for keeping the beetle's scientific name in the report.

Update 3/16/06: An astute ISW reader pointed out that the beetle, reported in the AP article to be "about 4 inches long," was more likely about 4cm long - a 4 inch beetle would be a giant, and there are few species that measure up. So you might want to go back and edit those "I, for one, welcome our new ginormous beetle overlords" posts :-).

No comments: