Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

The Woolly Adelgid is a bug native to East Asia. It feeds by sucking sap from Hemlock trees. In the US it poses a big threat to Eastern and Carolina Hemlock trees. It was accidentally introduced to the US in 1924. It is now established in 11 different states and causes widespread death of the Hemlock trees. It can be identified by its egg sacks which look like cotton balls hanging off the Hemlock trees' branches. When it feeds it sucks the sap from the trees and also injects a toxin which weakens the trees and causes it not to produce anything. If a tree would survive the infestation it would die due to a secondary cause because it would be greatly weakened by the Woolly Adelgid. If we didn't take steps to stop them, like inspecting homeowners and nurseries hemlock seedlings or trees from adelgid-infested states into any other state without an inspection permit certifying they are pest-free, New Jersey's Hemlock trees would be in trouble and who knows how that would affect us and our ecosystem. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolly_adelgid, http://www.northgeorgia.edu/uploadedImages/Centers_and_Programs/Environmental_Leadership_Center/Info/HWA.jpg, http://greenindustry.uwex.edu/diagnostics/images/Adelges_tsugae1.jpg