On February 10th, a crate of pineapples from the Dominican Republic was found to be infested with live termites. The wood packaging material was contained 20 live termites and subsequent identification by an entomologist found this to be
Cryptotermes sp. Area Port of Philadelphia determined this to be a first-in-port discovery of that genus. Wood packaging material from an earlier shipment of pineapples on February 5th from the Dominican Republic was also found to be heavily infested and 43 termite specimens were captured. Due to the infestation issues, Customs and Border Patrol has ordered all wood packaging material to be re-exported to the Dominican Republic.
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| west indian powderpost drywood termite (Cryptotermes brevis) by Pest and Diseases Image Library, Bugwood.org |
To read more on the find:
Philly CBP Intercepts New Destructive Termite Species in Pineapple Shipment from Dominican Republic
Note: Image above is not one of the termites discovered by CBP
