AUBURN, Mass. (AP) — The battle to eradicate Asian longhorned beetles continues over a decade after the species was first discovered in the Worcester area.

Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday that an infested tree was discovered Jan. 14 at Pakachoag Golf Course in Auburn.

Officials said that survey crews will search trees on public and private property around the area where the infested tree was discovered, the Telegram & Gazette reported.

Rhonda Santos, spokeswoman for the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said there were no other infested trees when the area was inspected last week.

The infested tree was a red maple tree, according to Santos.


Santos said that there were no adult beetles found, but that there were egg sites and emergence holes.

There will be tree climbers dispatched to the area to conduct additional surveys for the next one to two weeks, according to Santos.

The Asian longhorned beetle is native to China and the Korean peninsula. The discovery in Worcester in 2008 led to a 110-square mile quarantine zone and about 36,000 trees being cut down.

This story has been updated to correct the name of the insect to the Asian longhorned beetle, instead of the Asian longhorn beetle.