04-05-2015, 09:56 AM
Arrggghh...the amount of misinformation on this thread is agonizing. People, please, don't post stuff on here based on snippets you picked up from Wikipedia or from other places.
1) Little fire ants do not injure tree roots. They make very small nests, often up in trees, which is part of why they're so hard to control. You're thinking of the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), found in the mainland.
2) There are hundreds of species of Xyleborus beetles in the world; about 30 already occur in Hawaii, about 20 of them native. They mainly attack trees that are already injured; they bore into the trees and introduce a fungus that then spreads into the tree, and the beetles then feed on the fungus. Their relationship is with a specific fungus, so they might attack a tree already weakened by Ceratocystis, but it's not the one they would be spreading around.
3) The Oriental flower beetle feeds on flowers (as the name suggests), and has been here since the 1950s. It's sometimes a problem for mangos and other fruit trees but otherwise not a big deal, and has nothing to do with spreading fungal diseases. Likewise, coconut rhinoceros beetles are only found on Oahu, and eradication is being attempted. If you see any in Puna, report them (but don't mistake the flower beetles for CRB; somehow people keep doing so, even though they look very different).
4) Carpenter bees do not bore into live trees, only dead ones.
5) Mushrooms do not indicate the presence of a tree-killing fungus. Most fungi do not produce mushrooms to spread their spores; it's mostly decomposers that grow in the soil or decaying wood that do so.
1) Little fire ants do not injure tree roots. They make very small nests, often up in trees, which is part of why they're so hard to control. You're thinking of the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), found in the mainland.
2) There are hundreds of species of Xyleborus beetles in the world; about 30 already occur in Hawaii, about 20 of them native. They mainly attack trees that are already injured; they bore into the trees and introduce a fungus that then spreads into the tree, and the beetles then feed on the fungus. Their relationship is with a specific fungus, so they might attack a tree already weakened by Ceratocystis, but it's not the one they would be spreading around.
3) The Oriental flower beetle feeds on flowers (as the name suggests), and has been here since the 1950s. It's sometimes a problem for mangos and other fruit trees but otherwise not a big deal, and has nothing to do with spreading fungal diseases. Likewise, coconut rhinoceros beetles are only found on Oahu, and eradication is being attempted. If you see any in Puna, report them (but don't mistake the flower beetles for CRB; somehow people keep doing so, even though they look very different).
4) Carpenter bees do not bore into live trees, only dead ones.
5) Mushrooms do not indicate the presence of a tree-killing fungus. Most fungi do not produce mushrooms to spread their spores; it's mostly decomposers that grow in the soil or decaying wood that do so.