Those who live in certain ZIP codes in Santa Clara County, Calif., may have received a startling postcard in the mail warning about a new pest that poses a threat to agriculture and home landscapes.
The Diaprepes root weevil -- a native of the Caribbean -- is the latest bad bug to send the California Department of Food and Agriculture into overdrive. Adult weevils feed on the leaves of plants and their larvae move underground to feed on plant roots.
While the pest has not been spotted in Santa Clara County, the department is asking residents to keep an eye out for it.
The weevil infests 270 species of plants from 59 plant families, including citrus, hibiscus, avocado, peach, guava, loquat and oak. Officials at the department say that, left unchecked, the pest could damage urban and rural landscaping, the nursery industry, and the state's fruit and vegetable crops, including citrus -- which is a favorite of the pest.
The postcards feature an enlarged color photo of the insect, which is black with distinctive orange, yellow or gray markings on its back. The adult is about as long as a dime is wide.
ZIP codes to receive the postcards, according to the department, were selected based on conditions similar to those where the weevil has already been detected in Southern California: a high volume of new construction and a large number of specimen trees and other ornamental plants brought in for landscaping.
In all, more than 1.7 million postcards have been sent to targeted ZIP codes in 29 counties. In Santa Clara County, they were mailed to several areas of Cupertino, Los Gatos, Los Altos, Palo Alto, San Jose and Saratoga. The ZIP codes include 95014, 95030, 94022, 94024, 94301, 94305, 95120, 95138 and 95070.
Other counties receiving the mailing are: Calaveras, El Dorado, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Marin, Mariposa, Monterey, Napa, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura and Yolo.
The large-format postcard is similar to one mailed in July to 10 California counties: Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Monterey, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Some of these same counties are included in the new mailing, but the cards are being sent to different ZIP codes within those counties.
That first mailing resulted in many calls from homeowners, according to the department, and the discovery of the pest in three new areas of the state.
Quarantine areas have been set up in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. These quarantines restrict the movement of plant parts, soil and other materials that might harbor the pest.
According to the department, the pest arrived in Florida in 1964 and is well established there and in Texas. A variety of insecticides are used to combat the bug, with different strategies for killing the insect in its adult, larvae and egg stages. Work is under way to develop effective biological controls.
The first instance of the pest in California was in September, when a dead adult was found in a gypsy moth trap in an urban area of Newport Beach, according to the department. Subsequently, about 40 live adults were found with a quarter-mile radius of the initial discovery, and one was found later in Long Beach, some 18 miles away. Speculation is that the pests came into the state on ornamental plants shipped from Florida.