Pine shoot beetle, Tomicus piniperda (Linnaeus): A potential threat to Florida pines

Tomicusp iniperda (Linnaeus), a pine shoot beetle native to Europe, was first discovered in the United States in July of this year in a Christmas tree plantation in Ohio. Since then, intensive surveying by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state departments of agriculture has revealed its presence in six northern states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. Because T. piniperda occurs about as far south in the Old World as the latitude of Florida, it is considered to be a potential threat to at least some of the pine species intensively cultivated in the state.