The Cities Blog

Kid pix only an emerald ash borer could love

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These are the dreaded juvenile delinquents (emerald ash borer larvae) similar to the ones lurking in the leafy neighborhoods of St. Paul.

Jane Hodgins with the U.S. Forest Service office based on the University of Minnesota's St. Paul campus sent the photos, along with a note that most of them were snapped by USFS biologist Rob Venette.

Sure, it's like an insect family album. But Rob's work is deadly serious - as in, let's learn more about these buggers so we can get rid of them.

Venette wants to know, for example, does the release of the stingless wasp as a biological control agent work?

And, here in a winter photo of Rob's research, he's trying to learn if the larvae have the same aversion to winter temperatures as some two legged Minnesotans with condos in Florida?

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Anyway, always good to put a face to a pest.