Baltimore CBP Discovers Nine Asian Gypsy Moth Egg Masses On Four Vehicle Carrier Vessels
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists recently discovered nine Asian Gypsy Moth egg masses on four vehicle carrier vessels at the Port of Baltimore.
Agriculture specialists also intercepted a live Khapra beetle larvae, one of the world's most destructive insect pests.
Asian Gypsy Moth and Khpara beetle are two of the most destructive insect pests in the world. Neither are known to occur in the United States.
Asian Gypsy Moths are known to be extremely mobile -- females can travel up to 25 miles per day -- are attracted to lights, can lay egg masses that could yield hundreds of hungry caterpillars, and is itself a voracious eater that attacks more than 500 species of trees and plants.
Khapra beetle is a destroyer of stored grains, cereals and seeds, and it presents a potentially damaging economic impact to the United States grain and cereal exports if Khapra beetle was to establish in the U.S. It remains the only insect in which CBP takes regulatory action, even when the insect is in a dead state.