The eggs of an invasive moth known to be a voracious consumer of trees have been discovered for the first time in the Great Lakes region on a vessel in the Port of Detroit, according to U.S. Customers and Border Protection.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed the specimens came from two distinct subspecies of the flighted spongy moth complex native to Asia.
The steel-carrying cargo ship had arrived in Detroit from South Korea via Hamilton.
“It's very concerning because … spongy moth is one of those moths whose caterpillars feed on the foliage of a large number of tree species,” said Richard Hamelin, a professor of forestry at the University of British Columbia. He worked with the USDA and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on a DNA test to differentiate the Asian and European varieties of the moth.
“My guess is that this [is] being an alarm … bell … because … if there's one ship that had eggs, then … there was … some kind of a breakdown in the inspection or maybe there was a big outbreak at the source.”
Moths are attracted to ships at night because of their bright lights, he said.
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