This beautiful metallic green Buprestid beetle, is the reason why we have lost all our ash trees in the ash woods! This one is sitting on one of the downed trees piled up outside the woodlot. I saw around 8-10 adults flying around and landing on the trees, perhaps recently emerged adults. It was easy to see the distinctive D-shaped exit or emergence holes on the trees.

It is not the adults that cause the damage, but their larvae, who feed on the inner bark which kills the trees within a fairly short time. These non-native beetles have spread like wildfire in recent years, infecting just about every ash tree in the city. According to sources such as Bug Guide, this beetle from East Asia was accidentally introduced in the late 1990s in the Great Lakes region and has since spread rapidly. It was thought at first that our very cold winters would prevent the insect taking hold up here, but that has not been the case, sadly. WIthin the city of Ottawa, as elsewhere, one can see dead ash trees everywhere. They are being removed as quickly as possible, but so many ash were planted that it will take time. Replanting efforts will hopefully take place, but it will take many decades before the new trees achieve the size and canopy of the beautiful ash now being cut down.